Design and analysis of COTTER JOINT using

Autodesk Inventor 2013 and ANSYS Workbench

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of course project of

Bachelor of Engineering
(Course Project)
By

YASH MEHTA: 60005158008

KUSHAL MISTRY: 60005158009

MAITHIL NAIK: 60005158011

HARSH SHAH: 60005158017

------------------------------------------------------------

Under project guide:

PROF. RAJNARAYAN YADAV

Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering

Mechanical Engineering Department

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled Design and analysis of

Cotter Joint using Autodesk Inventor 2013 and ANSYS Workbench
is a bonafide work of YASH MEHTA (60005158008), KUSHAL
MISTRY (60005158009), MAITHIL NAIK (60005158011) & HARSH
SHAH 60005158017) submitted to the University of Mumbai in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the project
course in Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering.

Project Guide

(Prof. Rajnarayan Yadav)

2
 ABSTRACT

This project presents the Design and analysis of Socket and Spigot
Cotter Joint. The following abstract using the two software mainly
Autodesk Inventor 2013 and Ansys Workbench.

This project report consists of the design of the Cotter Joint followed
by design analysis of the same in ANSYS software and verifying from
the results obtained by the software that the design is safe and
verified for practical applications considering the mechanical and
structural stresses.

3
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

SR NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

I. Cover Page 1

II. Certificate 2

III. Abstract 3

IV. Summary 6

1. Introduction 7

2. Manual Calculation 10

3. Ansys Report 15

4. Ansys Result 18

5. Conclusion 21

6. Bibliography 22

4
 LIST OF FIGURE

FIGURE NO. FIGURE NAME PAGE NO.

1 Assembly of Cotter Joint 7

2 Dimensions of Cotter Joint 8

3 Details of Assembly of Cotter Joint 15

4 Static Structural Force 16

5 Static Structural Force2 16

6 Total Deformation 18

7 Equivalent Stress 19

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 IV. SUMMARY

A cotter is a flat wedge shaped piece of rectangular cross section and

its width is tapered (either on one side or both sides) from one end
to another end for an easy adjustment. The taper varies from 1 in 48
to in 1 in 8. The cotter is usually made up of mild steel or wrought
iron. A cotter joint is temporary fastening and is used to connect
rigidly two co-axial rods of bars, which are subjected to tensile or
compressive forces. It is usually used in connecting a piston rod to
the cross head of reciprocating steam engine, a piston rod and its
extension as a tail or pump rod, strap end of connecting rod etc.

Types of Joint are:

1. Socket and Spigot joint

2. Sleeve and Cotter joint
3. Gib and Cotter joint

The present article deals with the different stresses acting on the
Socket and Spigot joint. And also analyses the different amount of
force acting at different cross section on the component. It mainly
consists of the structural analysis. It uses the Autodesk Inventor 2013
and Ansys Workbench for analysis purpose.

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 1. INTRODUCTION
A Mechanical Joint is a section of a machine which is used to connect
one mechanical part to another. Mechanical joints may be
temporary or permanent; most types are designed to be
disassembled. Most mechanical joints are designed to allow relative
movement of these mechanical parts of the machine in one degree
of freedom, and restrict movement in one or more others.
Mechanical joints are much cheaper and are usually bought ready
assembled.

Cotter joint is used to connect two rods subjected to axial tensile or

compressive loads. It is not suitable to connect rotating shafts which
transmit torque. Axes of the rods to be joined should be collinear.
There is no relative angular movement between rods. Cotter joint is
widely used to connect the piston rod and crosshead of a steam
engine, as a joint between the piston rod and the tailor pump rod,
foundation bolt etc.

Fig. 1: Assembly of Cotter Joint

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In a socket and spigot cotter joint, one end of the rod (say A) is
provided with a socket type of end as shown in Fig. 1 and the other
end of the other rod (say B) is inserted into a socket. The end
of the rod which goes into a socket is also called spigot. A rectangular
hole is made in the socket and spigot. A cotter is then driven tightly
through a hole in order to make the temporary connection between
the two rods. The load is usually acting axially, but it changes its
direction and hence the cotter joint must be designed to carry both
the tensile and compressive loads. The compressive load is taken up
by the collar on the spigot.

Spigot is formed on one of the rods and socket is formed on the

other. The socket and the spigot are provided with a narrow
rectangular slot. The cotter is tightly fitted in this slot. Spigot fits
inside the socket and the cotter is passed through both the socket
and the spigot. A cotter is a wedge shaped piece made of a steel
plate. It has uniform thickness and the width dimension is given a
slight taper. Taper is usually 1 in 24 and provides mainly two
benefits: i) cotter becomes tight in the slot due to wedge action. This
ensures tightness of the joint in operating conditions and prevents
loosening of the parts. ii) Due to its taper shape, it is easy to remove
the cotter and dismantle the joint.

Fig. 2: Dimensions of Cotter Joint

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The construction of cotter joint, used to connect two rods subjected
to tensile force P is shown in the figure. When the cotter is inserted
into the slot, the central portion of cotter comes in contact with
spigot and the spigot gets pushed into the socket till the collar of the
spigot comes in contact with the collar of socket. As shown in the
figure, finally the cotter is in contact with the spigot on one side
having some clearance with the socket slot and is in contact with the
socket on the other side having some clearance with the spigot slot.
Clearance provided is generally 1.5 to 3 mm. Cotter gets locked
because of the frictional force of the contacting surfaces.

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 2. MANUAL CALCULATION
The cotter is subjected to a loading of P=75000 N

The load is assumed to be reversible type.

The dimensions are as follows:

d=50 mm
d1=50 mm
t=18 mm
l=28 mm
d2=90 mm
t1=18 mm
d3=80 mm
d4=160 mm
l1=22 mm
b=92 mm
t2=28 mm

To account for initial tightening effect while assembly because of wedging

action,

Pd=1.33 x P

=99750 N

Selection of material & F.O.S.:

Taking C-15 Mn 75 as material:

Adequate strength
Less expensive
Ease in availability
Good machinability characteristics
For C-15 Mn 75:

yt=250 N/mm2

Let F.O.S. be 4.

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Permissible Stresses:

t= yt/F.O.S

c= 62.5 N/mm2

By M.S.S.T:

s=0.5 xt=31.25 N/mm2

By Thumb rule,

cr=1.6 x t= 100 N/mm2

b= c= 62.5 N/mm2

Design of Spigot end:

1. Tensile Failure of Rod:

Pd = /4 x d2 x t
t=50.8 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

2. Tensile failure of spigot at slot section:

Pd = [/4 x d12-d1t]x t
t=57.08 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

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3. Crushing of spigot against collar:

Pd= d1t x cr
cr=92.36 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

4. Crushing of spigot collar against socket collar:

Pd = /4 x (d2-d1)xcr
cr=28.22 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

5. Circumferential shear of spigot collar:

Pd= xd1xt1 x s
s=29.39 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

Design of socket end:

1. Tensile failure of socket at slot:

Pd= [ (d32-d12)-(d3-d1)x t] x t
4
t=54.23 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

2. Crushing of socket collar against cotter:

Pd= [(d4-d1)x t] x cr

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 cr=51.46 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

3. Double shear of socket collar:

Pd= [2x(d4-d1)x t] x s
s=17.81 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

4. Circumference shear from socket:

Pd= dl x s
s=28.86 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

Design of Cotter Joint:

1. Double shear of cotter:

Pd= [ 2 (bxt) x s]
s=30.11 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

2. Bending failure of cotter:

M=( x d1/4) + (Pd/2) x (d1/2 + h/3)
2
Where h= (d4-d1)/2
M = 1.33 x 106Nmm

13
 Z = b2/t
b= M/Z
b=52.38 N/mm2

As the induced value of stress is less than the permissible value, the design is
safe.

Note:

A taper of 1:30 is provided on one side of cotter to give wedging effect during
assembly. Also a clearance of 3 mm is provided between slots and cotter so
that cotter can be easily driven during assembly into slot and taken out.

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3. ANSYS REPORT

Statistics

Nodes 1166 1673 1088

Elements 182 831 505

Mesh Metric None

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16
Material Data
Structural Steel
TABLE 15
Structural Steel > Constants
Density 7850 kg m^-3

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion 1.2e-005 C^-1

Specific Heat 434 J kg^-1 C^-1

Thermal Conductivity 60.5 W m^-1 C^-1

Resistivity 1.7e-007 ohm m

TABLE 17
Structural Steel > Compressive Yield Strength
Compressive Yield Strength Pa

2.5e+008

TABLE 23
Structural Steel > Isotropic Elasticity

Temperature Young's Modulus Poisson's Bulk Modulus Shear Modulus

C Pa Ratio Pa Pa

2.e+011 0.3 1.6667e+011 7.6923e+010

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 4. ANSYS RESULT

1. Total Deformation:

Fig. 6: Total Deformation

STATIC STRUCTURE
7.3729e-5 max
6.5596e-5
5.74674-5
4.9332e-5
4.1199e-5
3.3067e-5
2.4994e-5
1.6902e-5
8.66912e-6
5.3676e-7 min

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2. Equivalent Stress:

Fig. 7: Equivalent stress

STATIC STRUCTURE

4.3848e7 max 1.894e7

4.0072e7 1.5714e7

3.7956e7 1.25878e7

3.447e7 9.4621e6

3.1344e7 6.3361e6

2.821e7 3.2101e6

2.5099e7 84101 min

2.1966e7

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 Results

Minimum 5.3676e-007 m 84101 Pa

Maximum 7.3729e-005 m 4.3848e+007 Pa

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 5. CONCLUSION

As per the objective of the project, first the socket and spigot joint
was designed manually using empiricals and designing procedures
and selecting the materials according to standard use. It was then
verified doing manual calculations that the design was indeed safe.

The design was then recreated in Autodesk Inventor and from there
imported to Ansys for further analysis. It was found that on applying
all the loads the design turned out to be safe as per the software too.
Also it became easy to identify the regions of maximum stress and
minimum stress from the results obtained from Ansys analysis so
that if needed further design changes can be made to reduce stress
concentration.

During the course of this project we learned the principles of

designing and mainly to analyze components using Ansys software.
Also we learned qualities of team work, punctuality and hard work.

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 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

R.S. KHURMUI, A Textbook MACHINE DESIGN

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=SOCKET+AND+SPIGOT+B
RIEF&espv=2&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ve
d=0ahUKEwjZmrzL9KbTAhWBQo8KHcCTBhUQ_AUIBigB&biw=
1366&bih=662&dpr=1#imgrc=BCWx

H.S. Manohar, Finite Element Method, First edition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_joint

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