Design of a Composite Drive Shaft and its Coupling for Automotive Application

Abstract

This paper presents a design method and a vibration analysis of a carbon/epoxy composite drive shaft. The designof the composite drive shaft is divided into two main sections: First, the design of the composite shaft and second, thedesign of its coupling. Some parameters such as critical speed, static torque, fiber orientation and adhesive jointswere studied. Tsai-Hill failure criterion was implemented to control the rupture resistance of the composite shaft andthen its critical speed analysis and modal analysis were carried out using ANSYS. The behavior of materials isconsidered nonlinear isotropic for adhesive, linear isotropic for metal and orthotropic for composite shaft. The resultsshowed significant points about the appropriate design of composite drive shafts. The substitution of composite driveshaft has resulted in considerable weight reduction about 72% compared to conventional steel shaft. Furthermore,results revealed that the orientation of fibers had great influence on the dynamic characteristics of the compositeshaft.