Fretting damage prediction of connecting rod of marine diesel engine

There is frequent fretting damage at the mating surface of a connecting rod because the connecting rod in a combustion engine is heavily loaded as well as rotated. The flexible multi-body dynamic analysis including the elasto-hydrodynamic model is introduced to calculate the actual force acting on the connecting rod that is applied to the full cyclic simulation during one cycle. The fretting possibility at the planar upper split of the marine-head type of connecting rod is predicted by the Ruiz criterion that requires three main parameters: slip, tangential and shear stress. The Ruiz criterion is more simple and useful than the prediction model based on multi-axial fatigue failure. The fretting damage prediction at the upper split of the marine diesel engine’s connecting rod is compared to the actual inspection result taken after 20,000 running hours.