Accelerated Test Design for Crankshaft Reliability Estimation

Crankshaft, the core element of the engine of a vehicle, transforms the translational motion generated by combustion to rotational motion. Its failure will cause serious damage to the engine so its reliability verification must be performed. In this study, the S-N data of the bending and torsion fatigue limits of a crankshaft are derived. To evaluate the reliability of the crankshaft, reliability verification and analysis are performed. For the purpose of further evaluation, the bending and torsion tests of the original crankshaft are carried out, and failure mode analysis is made. The appropriate number of samples, the applied load, and the test time are computed. On the basis of the test results, Weibull analysis for the shape and scale parameters of the crankshaft is estimated. Likewise, the $B_{10}$ life under 50% of the confidence level and the MTTF are exactly calculated, and the groundwork for improving the reliability of the crankshaft is laid.