Machine Design Practical

Experiment No. 02

Aim: To study and design of Knuckle Joint.

Theory:

Knuckle joint is used to connect two rods subjected to axial tensile loads. It may also
be used to support the compressive load if the joint is guided. It is not suitable to connect
rotating shafts which transmit torque. Axes of the shafts to be joined should lie in the same
plane and may coincide or intersect. Its construction permits limited relative angular
movement between rods, about the axis of the pin. Knuckle joint is widely used to connect
valve rod and eccentric rod, in the link of a cycle chain, levers, tie rod joint for roof truss and
many other links.

Knuckle Joint has mainly three components – eye, fork and pin as shown in Figure 1.
Eye is formed on one of the rods and fork is formed on the other. Eye fits inside the fork and
the pin is passed through both the fork and the eye. This pin is secured in its place by means
of a split-pin. The ends of the rods are made octagonal to some distance for better grip and
are made square for some portion before it is forged to make the eye and fork shapes.

Advantages of Knuckle Joint are:

- Simple to design and manufacture.

- Fewer parts – less cost more reliability.

- Simple to assemble and dismantle.

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Figure 1: Knuckle Joint

Design of Knuckle Joint

Notations Used

D = diameter of each rod (mm)

D1 = enlarged diameter of each rod (mm)

d = diameter of knuckle pin (mm)

d0 = outside diameter of eye or fork (mm)

d1 = diameter of pin head (mm)

a = thickness of each eye of fork (mm)

b = thickness of eye end of rod B (mm)

x = distance of the centre of fork radius R from the eye (mm)

Assumption for stress analysis of Knuckle Joint

- The rods are subjected to axial tensile force.

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- The effect of stress concentration due to holes is neglected

- The force is uniformly distributed in different parts.

Figure 2 shows the free body diagrams of the three main components of knuckle joint
subjected to a tensile force P.

Figure 2: Free body diagrams of the three main components of knuckle joint subjected to a
tensile force P

In order to find out various dimensions of the parts of a knuckle joint, failures in
different parts and at different x-sections are considered. The stresses developed in the
components should be less than the corresponding permissible values of stress. So, for each
type of failure, one strength equation is written and these strength equations are then used to
find various dimensions of the knuckle joint. Some empirical relations are also used to find
the dimensions.

Normally, empirical relations are available to find different dimensions of the joint and
they are safe from design point of view. The proportions are given in the figure 3.

Figure 3

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However, failures analysis may be carried out for checking. The analyses are shown
below assuming the same materials for the rods and pins and the yield stresses in tension,
compression and shear are given by σt, σc and τ.

3. Failure of knuckle pin in bending (if the pin is loose in the fork)

Assuming a triangular pressure distribution on the pin, the loading on the pin is shown in
figure- 4

Equating the maximum bending stress to tensile or compressive yield stress we have

Figure 4: Bending of the Knuckle Pin

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Problems:

1. Two mild steel rods are connected by a knuckle joint to transmit an axial force of 100
kN. Design the joint completely assuming the working stresses for both the pin and
rod materials to be 100 MPa in tension, 65 MPa in shear and 150 MPa in crushing.

2. Design a knuckle joint for a tie rod of a circular section to sustain a maximum pull of
70 kN. The rods and pins are made up SAE 1030 and a factor of safety of 5 is to be
used.

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