Abstract:
In automobiles, the propeller shaft is used for the transmission of motion from the engine to the differential. An automotive propeller shaft transmits power from the engine to differential gears of rear wheel-driving vehicle. The main concept of our thesis is to reduce the weight of automotive propeller shaft with the composite material. The modeling of the propeller shaft is created using SOLIDWORK Software and was imported to ANSYS software for analysis. Finite element analysis using ANSYS and Analytical methods are done. Finite element analysis (FEA) is performed to obtain stress, deflection, critical speed and weight.
Weight optimization resulted in 76.67%, Stress reduction 30.97% and the present of the cost of the materials cost . The replacement of conventional propeller shaft results in reduction in weight of automobile. Analytical stress and FEA results showed close agreement and weight reduction of modified propeller shaft is improved rather than original and the optimized one can be replaced the original one.
Composite materials have been used in automotive components because of their properties such as low weight, high specific stiffness, corrosion free, ability to produce complex shapes, high specific strength and high impact energy absorption etc.