High-Cycle Fatigue of a

Reciprocating Piston Engine

 Model Background
• A piston engine operates at a high speed. A
connecting rod is identified as the critical
component and its fatigue life is predicted.
• The assembly is made out of rigid components
and the connections are obtained using
different types of joints available in the
Multibody Dynamics Module.
• Only the connecting rod is made flexible.
 Fatigue Evaluation
• Since this is a dynamic model there is a difference
between the stress response of the first load cycle
and the consecutive one.
• Several load cycles are modeled in order to
capture a stable one.
• The critical point is located at one of the fillets of
the connecting rod. Since the stress state is fairly
uniaxial in that point, the Basquin relation from
the stress-life family is used to predict fatigue.