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• A fracture failure of a marine diesel engine timing gear is investigated in detail. • Both experimental and numerical investigations are performed. • Influence of associated structures is considered while analyzing the fracture. • Two models, one is with inclusion and the other is non-inclusion, are constructed. • Results indicate the fracture is a fatigue fracture and is caused by the inclusion. In this paper, a fracture failure of a marine diesel engine timing gear in a chemical tanker was investigated in detail using both experimental analysis and numerical analysis. The experimental analysis includes macroscopical inspection, Scanning Electron Microscope analysis, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy analysis, metallographic investigation and mechanical property investigation. The numerical analysis includes torsional vibration analysis and finite element method (FEM) simulations. In the torsional vibration analysis, the coupling influence of the associated structures on the timing gear system was taken into account, not only analyzing the fault gear itself. In the FEM simulations, two models, one is with inclusion and the other is non-inclusion, were constructed. Both investigations indicate that the fracture is a fatigue fracture and the initial cracks are caused by the inclusion. Further investigation should pay attention to finding a way to overcome the problem of fatigue fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]