Reverse Engineering of an Engine Block

Notable Features of Model

• Based on industrial CT scan
• Visualisation and segmentation of internal structures
• Multi-part CAD model

Reverse Engineering with ScanIP

The study demonstrates the ability to visualise and segment internal structures regardless of geometric complexity, and the ease with which multi-part CAD models and volumetric finite element meshes can be generated based on 3D scan data.

CT data of engine block

FE mesh showing internal structures

FEA - heat dissipation

Industrial CT Scan

The data was rendered from a 256 x 256 x 110 CT scan of an engine block (obtained from the Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory). The original engine block consists of two types of material - clearly visible in the scan.

Mesh Generation in ScanIP and ⁺ScanFE

Dynamic threshold and FloodFill segmentation tools in ScanIP were used to generate 4 masks (engine block, pistons, rings, gasket), and a 3D volumetric FE mesh was generated in ⁺ScanFE.

FE Analysis in ABAQUS and Export to CopyCAD

In ABAQUS, material properties, boundary conditions and loads were applied and an analysis of heat dissipation from the pistons throughout the block was carried out. The total processing time, including analysis, was a little over 2 hours.

In addition, a surface mesh was exported to Delcam's reverse engineering program CopyCAD.

Special thanks to the Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory who allowed us to use their CT data of an engine block.