Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
P. G. Student- ABMSPs Anantarao Pawar College of Engineering & Research, Parvati. (Pune University)
Assistant Professor- ABMSPs Anantarao Pawar College of Engineering & Research, Parvati. (Pune University)
ABSTRACT
The 21st century competitive market demands light weight, low cost, fuel efficient engines, comfort drive with luxury at its best.
Also with the ongoing restrictive emission norms and increasing fuel prices its been crucial to cut down the weight of engines.
Hence manufacturers are adapting light weight engines to survive the cut throat competitive market. The various components
of an engine are piston, crankshaft, connecting rod, valves etc. The connecting rod being an essential component in an engine
it becomes crucial to optimize connecting rod. The connecting rods function is to transmit energy from piston to the crankshaft.
The paper deals with the static and fatigue analysis of existing design of automotive connecting rod which is having mass of
11.46 kg. Theoretical fatigue factor of safety of this existing design is 2.3. The most critical area is cross oil hole at shank. But
this design is having Fatigue life nearly equal to 1.393E007 cycles which is very high and can be considered as infinite life. So
by studying the scope for material removal, we can modify this existing robust design to get sufficient life i.e. in the range of
E006 cycles. The mass of modified design is 9.47 kg. Here we have optimized the I-section of existing design. It is obvious that,
due to removal of material there is increase in the stress level at the critical zone. But increase in the stress level is such that,
fatigue factor of safety of modified design is 1.8 and having fatigue life of 1.5E006 which satisfying general criteria of E006
cycles. So, modified design is offering sufficient life with 1.99 kg material saving (17.37% weight reduction) with respect to
existing design.
Keywords: Connecting rod, Mass Optimization, Static Analysis, Fatigue Analysis, Fatigue Factor of safety,
Experimental Validation, Failure Analysis.
1. INTRODUCTION
The automobile engine connecting rod is a high volume production, critical component. It connects reciprocating
piston to rotating crankshaft, transmitting the thrust of the piston to the crankshaft. All internal combustion engines
require number of connecting rod depending upon the number of cylinders in the engine. A 4-stroke IC engine
undergoes 4 strokes. They are injection stroke, compression stroke, power stroke and exhaust stroke. The con rod is
subjected to various forces in these four strokes.
The major stresses induced in the connecting rod are a combination of axial and bending stresses in operation. The
axial stresses are produced due to cylinder gas pressure (compressive only) and the inertia force arising in account of
reciprocating action (both tensile as well as compressive), whereas bending stresses are caused due to the centrifugal
effects. It consists of a long shank, a small end and a big end. The cross-section of the shank may be rectangular,
circular, tubular, I-section or H-section. Generally circular section is used for low speed engines while I-section is
preferred for high speed engines. The most common type of manufacturing processes is casting, forging, and powdered
metallurgy. Connecting rod is subjected to a complex state of loading. It undergoes high cyclic loads, which range from
high compressive loads due to combustion, to high tensile loads due to inertia. Therefore, durability of this component
is critical importance. Due to these factors, the connecting rod has been the topic of research for different aspects such
as production technology, materials, performance, simulation, fatigue etc.
Page 7
Page 8
101 MPa
350 MPa
Page 9
Page 10
This fatigue life of existing design calculated by this fatigue analysis is 1.393E007 cycles. This fatigue life is much
higher than the general criteria of E006 cycles. So we can say that this design is robust and having infinite life. So, we
have scope for weight optimization of this design by modifying sections by using topology optimization technique.
4. TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION
Here topology optimization is carried out in order to optimize the original connecting rod. HYPERMESH Optistruct is
used for optimization analysis. Here blue color shows scope for material removal.
Stress
constraint
Optimization
Response
Boundary
conditions.
Page 11
7.CONCLUSIONS
Existing design of connecting rod is having mass of 11.46kg and having fatigue factor of safety 2.38. Fatigue life
of this design is 1.393E007 cycles, which somewhat more than the requirement criteria of E006 cycles.
In Modified design, we have removed material from existing design so as to get 17.35% weight reduction. This
design is having fatigue factor of safety 1.81 and having fatigue life of 1.581E006 cycles, which is satisfying the
criteria of range of E006 cycles.
So, removing the material from different sections, stress level increases and fatigue factor of safety along with
fatigue life reduced. But if removal of material in such fashion that fatigue factor of safety is in between 1.5 to 2.0
then component will get sufficient fatigue life in the range of E006 cycles.
Since, modified design is satisfying E006 cycle range, we can consider this design as a one of the optimized
design.
Page 12
References
[1] P. C. Sharma and Aggarwal, A text book of Machine Design, fourth edition 1993, S. S. Kataria and sons
publication.
[2] R K. Jain, A text book Machine Design, Seventh edition 1995, Khanna publications.
[3] Priyanka D. Toliya, Ravi C. Trivedi, Prof. Nikhil J. Chotai, Design and Finite Element Analysis Of Aluminium6351 Connecting Rod, International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181,
Vol. 2 Issue 5, May - 2013.
[4] M.M. Noor, M.N. Shuhaizal, K. Kadirgama, Julie J. Mohamed, M. R. M. Rejab, A. N. M. Rose, Analysis Of
Connecting Rod Based On Finite Element Approach , Malaysian Technical Universities Conference on
Engineering and Technology March 8-10, 2008, ISBN 978-983-42358-4-0.
[5] Manish P Vekariya, Marmik M Dave, Static Structure Analysis of Diesel Truck Engine Connecting Rod volume
2, issue 6, June 2013 ISSN No. 2277-8179.
[6] Abhinav Gautam, K Priya Ajit, Static Stress Analysis of Connecting Rod Using Finite Element Approach IOSR
Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE) e-ISSN: 2278-1684,p-ISSN: 2320-334X, Volume 10,
Issue 1 (Nov.-Dec. 2013), PP 47-51.
AUTHOR
Vikram Appa Shedge received the Bachelor of Engineering degree with distinction in Mechanical
Engineering from Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, Sakharale in 2012 and currently working as
a student of M. E.- Design in Pune University (ABMSPs Anantarao Pawar College of Engineering
& Research, Parvati- Pune). During 2012-2013, he worked as an Assistant Professor at PESs,
College of Engineering, Phaltan.
Page 13