Analysis of the Design of the Single-Cylinder Steam Engine of the Grasshopper Beam by Henry Muncaster

Abstract

In this paper, the analysis of the design of the single-cylinder steam engine of the Grasshopper beam designed by Henry Muncaster in 1912 is shown. This engine was incorporated into ships and railways and it was published in the Model Engineer journal in 1957. It shows great complexity due to its ability to transform reciprocating movement into rotary movement and its high number of elements (more than 150). To this end, a study of computer-aided engineering (CAE) was carried out using the software Autodesk Inventor Nastran, consisting of a linear static analysis using the finite element method (FEM) of the 3D CAD model under real operating conditions in order to learn if it was well designed, according to material resistance criteria. The assembly is analyzed in the two most unfavorable situations in order to determine the von Mises stresses, the displacements and the safety coefficient distributions. Finally, it was found that the work pressure (maximum admissible steam pressure in the admission) was 0.15 MPa.