Analysis and Optimization of Connecting Rod by using SOLIDWORKS and ANSYS

Abstract

Our work includes design and structural analysis of connecting rod. The function of the connecting rod is transmission of motion from the piston to the crankshaft. It converts the translational motion of the piston into rotatory motion and vice versa. Under the cyclic process of the engine, the connecting rod undergoes tensile and compressive load. So, for being an ideal and perfect connecting rod, it must be light in weight, easily manufactured, and have good strength under any type of loading. In this work, at first SOLIDWORKS software has been used for modeling the connecting rod then ANSYS software has been used to analyze the equivalence stress, total deformation, safety factor, etc of the connecting rod by finite element method. Fatigue and structural analysis have been performed in this work. Usually, here the axial compressive load is greater than the axial tensile load. So, analyzing the whole design under only axial compressive load led to the final outcome. Here comparison has been done by assigning or changing different types of materials where we can observe the variation in equivalence or von mises stress & strain, total deformation, safety factor, mass, etc. From there we can choose the best configuration according to the requirement or demand.