The Journal of Engine Research

The Journal of Engine Research

Fatigue life prediction of a rubber engine mount for internal combustion engines

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ali Daraie Nezhad Fard
Seyed Mohammad Jafari
Abbas Rahi
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/er.2026.2078883.1121
Abstract
This study aims to present a method for accurately estimating the fatigue life of rubber engine mounts used in internal combustion engines on the basis of fatigue damage evaluation parameters. First, to determine the mechanical properties and establish the constitutive equation of the rubber used in the engine mount, uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression, and planar tension tests were performed, and the Mooney–Rivlin model was employed to describe the hyperelastic behavior of the material. Subsequently, fatigue life tests were conducted on three-dimensional (3D) dumbbell specimens and engine mounts under specified laboratory conditions in order to obtain experimental fatigue life data. Next, the fatigue damage evaluation parameters—including the strain energy density, effective stress, Green–Lagrange principal strain, Euler–Almansi strain, and octahedral shear strain—were computed using the finite element method under loading conditions identical to those of the fatigue life tests for both the 3D dumbbell specimen and the engine mount. Fatigue life estimation models were then developed by fitting a power-law relationship between the calculated parameters and the experimental fatigue life of the 3D dumbbell specimen. Finally, by substituting the computed fatigue damage parameters of the engine mount into the corresponding models, the estimated fatigue lives of the engine mount were obtained and compared with the experimental results. Calculation of the correlation coefficient for each model revealed that the model based on the Green–Lagrange principal strain provides the highest accuracy in predicting the fatigue life of the engine mount.
Keywords
Fatigue Life Prediction
Rubber Engine Mount
Fatigue Damage Evaluation
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  • Receive Date 02 December 2025
  • Revise Date 06 July 2026
  • Accept Date 16 August 2026