PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF PASSENGER CAR TIE ROD USING NUMERICAL AND THEORETICAL APPROACH WITH DIFFERENT MATERIALS

Pradeep Mahadevappa Chavan, M M M Patnaik

Abstract: Tie rods or Track rods are an integral part of vehicle’s steering system. Just as its name suggests a Tie rod ties vehicle’s steering rack to the steering arm. Tie rod may get fail due to varying forces and bumping of vehicle during steering. The forces from the steering are also considered during the static condition of car. Vibration and buckling of Tie rod has been continuously a concern which may lead to structural failure if the resulting vibration and stresses are undesirable and excessive. So research work is aimed to assess buckling strength and compare buckling performance of Tie rod for different materials. Finite element models of the Tie rod also analyzed to obtain stiffness and stress distributions in each component. Based on the experimental test results, theoretical calculation results and finite element analysis with NASTRAN results, stiffness values are validated. The mode shape and natural frequency results for different materials obtained in the normal modal analysis are compared. In buckling analysis, the load factor obtained for different materials were compared and critical buckling load is calculated and is validated by theoretical calculations.

Keywords: Tie rod, Fluctuating forces, Stiffness, and Buckling etc…

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0308015