INTRODUCTION

Crankshaft is a central component of any internal combustion engine and is

used to convert reciprocating motion of the piston into rotary motion through
connecting rod and vice versa.
Crankshaft consist of three portions:
Crank pin
Crank web
Shaft
Types of Crankshaft
Side or overhung crankshaft
Side crankshaft has only one crank web & require only two bearing for support.
Used in medium size engine and large size horizontal engines.
Centre crankshaft
Centre crankshaft has two crank web and three bearing for support.
Used in radial aircraft engines, marine engines and more popular in automotive
engines.

Depending upon no. of crank pin used in assembly :
Single throw crankshaft
Multi throw crankshaft


Types of Crankshaft
Material Selection
Crankshaft should have sufficient strength to withstand bending and twisting
moment to which it is subjected.
The crankshaft is subjected to fluctuating stresses and it should have
sufficient endurance limit stress.
Crankshaft are commonly made by drop forging process.
Popular material used for crankshaft are plain carbon steel and alloy steel.
Plain carbon steels include 40C8, 45C8 and 50C8.
Alloy steels used for making crankshaft are nickel chromium steels such as
16Ni3Cr2, 35Ni5Cr2 and 40Ni10Cr3Mo6.

Force Imposed On Crankshaft
Crankshaft subjected to bending and torsion force due to following three forces.
i. Force exerted by connecting rod on crank pin
ii. Weight of flywheel (W) acting downward in vertical direction
iii. Resultant belt tension acting in horizontal direction (P
1
+P
2
)

In the design of crankshaft two cases of crank position are considered.
Case I: Crank is at top dead centre position and subjected to maximum bending
moment and no torsional moment.
Case II: Crank is at any angle with the line of dead centre position and subjected to
maximum torsional moment.

Crankshaft at top dead centre
Pp = force on crank pin
D = diameter of piston
p
max
= max. gas pressure inside the
cylinder
W = weight of flywheel
P
1
= tension on tight side
P
2
= tension on slack side
b = distance between main bearing 1 &2
c = distance between main bearing 2 &3
R
1
, R
2
, R
3
are the reactions at the bearings
1, 2 and 3

Crankshaft at top dead centre (Conti..)
i. Bearing reaction :
Thrust on connecting rod
P
p
= (D
2
/4)p
max

Crankshaft is simply supported between bearing 1 &2 and subjected to force P
p

P
p
*b
1
= (R
2
)
v
*b or (R
2
)
V
= (P
p
*b
1
)/b

Similarly, P
p
*b
2
= (R
1
)
v
*b or (R
1
)
V
= (P
p
*b
2
)/b
Crankshaft is simply supported between bearing 2 & 3 and subjected to vertical force W
and horizontal force (P
1
+P
2
)
W*c
1
= (R
3
)
v
*c or (R
3
)
v
= (W*c
1
)/c
W*c
2
= (R
2
)
v
*c or (R
2
)
v
= (W*c
2
)/c
(P
1
+P
2
)*c
1
= (R
3
)
h
*c or (R
3
)
h
= {(P
1
+P
2
)*c
1
}/c
(P
1
+P
2
)*c
2
= (R
2
)
h
*c or (R
2
)
h
= {(P
1
+P
2
)*c
2
}/c







Crankshaft at top dead centre (Conti..)
Resultant reaction at the bearings are as follows:
R
1
= (R
1
)
v
R
2
= [(R
2
)
v
+(R
2
)
v
]
2
+ [R
2
)
h
]
2

R
3
= [(R
3
)
v
]
2
+ [(R
3
)
h
]
2
ii. Design of crank pin :


The crank pin is subjected to max. bending
moment at central plane.
(M
b
)
c
= (R
1
)
v
b
1

I = (d
c
4
/64) ; y=d
c
/2 ;
b
= {(M
b
)
c
*y}/I
(Mb)c = (d
c
3
/32)*
b

Diameter of crank pin is determined
by the above equation.



Crankshaft at top dead centre (Conti..)
The length of crank pin is determined by bearing consideration.
p
b
= allowable bearing pressure at crank pin
p
b
= P
p
/d
c
l
c
iii. Design of Left hand Crank Web :
From empirical relationships
t = 0.7d
c
and w = 1.14d
c
The left hand crank web is subjected to direct compressive stress and bending stress
due to eccentricity of reaction (R
1
)
v.


c
= (R
1
)
v
/wt
M
b
= (R
1
)
v
[ b
1
-l
c
/2-t/2]

I = (wt
3
/12) ; y = (t/2) ;
c
= M
b
y/I

b
= {(R
1
)
v
[ b
1
-l
c
/2-t/2](t/2)} / (wt
3
/12)

b
= 6(R
1
)
v
[ b
1
-l
c
/2-t/2] / (wt
2
)



Crankshaft at top dead centre (Conti..)
The total compressive stress is given by:
(
c
)
t
=
c
+
b
The total compressive stress should be less than the allowable bending stress.
iv. Design of Right hand crank Web :
The right hand and left hand crank webs should be identical from balancing
consideration.
v. Design of Shaft Under Flywheel :
The central plane of the shaft is subjected to maximum bending moment.
Bending moment in the vertical plane due to wt. of flywheel
(M
b
)
v
= (R
3
)
v
c
2
Bending moment in horizontal plane due to resultant belt tension
(M
b
)
h
= (R
3
)
h
c
2


Crankshaft at top dead centre (Conti..)
Resultant bending moment
Mb= (M
b
)
v
2
+ (M
b
)
h
2


= [(R
3
)
v
c
2
]
2
+ [(R
3
)
h
c
2
]
2



Similarly ,
Mb = (d
s
3
/32)*
b
d
s
is the diameter of shaft under
flywheel