Abstract
Finite element analysis along with DOE scheme has been performed to obtain robust design of connecting rod assembly. An analysis was conducted with five loading steps. Fatigue analysis was done using commercial software FEMFAT and fatigue safety factors at the interested regions such as shank area of small end and big end were calculated. 27 design cases using 3 factors with 3 levels are constructed by design of experiment. Each case is simulated to find the most influential factors. Response for this study, maximum Von-Mises stress, has been used to determine main factors of connecting rod assembly. Among the 3 factors, compression load affected the response greatly. However, bolt assembly load and width of shank flat area showed a little influence to the response. Interaction effects among factors considered did not occur. Connecting rod assembly considered in this study showed its sensitivity to the noise factor such as compression load rather than design factor such as width of flat shank area.