Failure Analysis of Connecting Rod at Big End

The connecting rod is one of the most important parts of an engine system. It fits in between the crosshead and the crankshaft and converts the piston’s reciprocating motion to rotary motion with the crankshaft. The connecting rod is subjected to a complex state of loading. High compressive loads and high tensile loads are due to combustion and connecting rod’s mass of inertia, respectively. This is why the connecting rod is the most stressed part of an engine system. If the engine is operating, connecting rod fails, this could cause a critical situation. Therefore, the connecting rod should be able to withstand tremendous load and transmit a great deal of power smoothly. In general, the failure occurs at the big end of connecting rod. Hence, the connecting rod’s big end corner radius was taken as a design variable. Also, three dimensional finite element analyses were performed. From these results, the stress distribution was estimated and the value of the corner radius was optimized.