Design of Connecting Rod:

Design and analyse the stress distribution in a connecting rod as shown in Figure 5. The axial load which the connecting rod carries is 1kN and the minimum length of the connecting is 15 cm. You are required to ensure that the Von-Mises stress in the connecting rod should be less than half the yield strength of the material you have chosen for the connecting rod (factor of safety).

• Justify in your report if your design mimics an actual existing design for automotive applications.
• Justify the selection of the material you have chosen for your design and its influence on the weight (and hence functionality) and ease of fabrication of the connecting rod.
• How did you apply loading and boundary conditions and why?
• How did you avoid stress concentrations?
• Why did you choose the specific design of the connecting rod you modeled in FEA?