Exhaust bracket design and FEA

My contribution

I modeled an L shaped exhaust hanger bracket under a 311 N static load. I compared seven candidate materials using beam calculations, static finite element analysis, nominal strength, stiffness, and raw material cost. The initial screening favored AISI 1018 quenched and tempered steel.

For the steel model, Fusion 360 predicted 2.053 mm of maximum displacement, compared with 2.184 mm from the beam calculation. I reviewed stress concentrations near the inner fillet and the fixed mounting region rather than treating a single solver value as the full design assessment.

I then explored a cast iron version. I increased the bracket thickness from 5 to 8 mm and the inner fillet radius from 3 to 5 mm while retaining the mounting holes. The revised model predicted 0.649 mm of maximum displacement. I compared three meshes and examined the local principal stress near the fillet to assess how the result changed with refinement.

The two models use different materials and geometries. Their results describe the modeled static load and idealized mounting constraints. Physical testing, fatigue analysis, and a more detailed model of the bolted connections would be needed to assess the bracket for service. I also considered casting, machining, and the limits of using raw material cost alone to compare manufacturing options.