A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MOTORISED CARGO TRICYCLE CONNECTING ROD USING ABAQUS

Abstract

This report outlines systematic modeling and comparative analysis of connecting rod of a motorized cargo tricycle (popularly referred to as motor king in the northern part of Ghana and as Aboboyaa in the south). Two different designs, solid and hollow shank connecting rods, made from three different alloying materials (AA 6061, Ti - 5Al - 2.5Sn and AISI 1045) were modeled and analyzed using the finite element analysis (F.E.A) software (ABACUS CAE / 2022 Learning Edition). The crank end of the connecting rod was constrained, and a load of 1371 kN was applied at the piston end pointing south. After analysis, results showed that the stress induced in the piston end was higher than the one induced on the crank end. This was attributed to the colour red at the piston end and the colour blue at the crank end. Titanium alloy had the least stress value of 5000 pa for the solid shank followed by AA6061 alloy with a value of 9000 pa and AISI 1045 was the highest with a stress value of 13000 pa, also, for the hollow shank titanium had the least stress value of 3900 pa followed by AA 6061 of 41000 pa with the greatest value of stress still being AISI 1045 having a value of 7000 pa. Elastic strain and deformations analysis showed that titanium alloy was the most resilient showing a max elastic strain of 19 for the solid shank and 23 for the hollow shank and deformation amount of 16 m for solid and 18 m for hollow shank. AISI 1045 was least resilient showing maximum elastic strain of 70 for solid and 75 for hollow and total deformation of 26 m for solid and 30 m for hollow. In terms of design, the solid shank connecting rod showed the least deformation irrespective of material used. For example AA 6061 deformed by 20 m, titanium by 16 m and AISI 1045 by 26m.