Advanced Connecting Rod Design for Mass Optimization

In an effort to optmize the connecting rod of an internal combustion engine for both mass and reliability, an all-new forged steel design has been developed that is 37% lighter than the lightweight production design. The connecting rod has been optimized using 3D Modeling, FEA, advanced numerical simulation such as PIMO3D, and a variety of mechanical testing and lessons learned. The four critical areas of the connecting rod are defined and discussed in detail, and an optimization solution for each area is presented. Finally, the optimized connecting rod incorportating all of the knowledge and information from the previous sections is presented.