Design of a composite drive shaft and its coupling for automotive application

This paper presents a design method and a vibration analysis of a carbon/epoxy composite drive shaft. The design of the composite drive shaft is divided into two main sections: First, the design of the composite shaft and second, the design of its coupling. Some parameters such as critical speed, static torque, fiber orientation and adhesive joints were studied. Tsai-Hill failure criterion was implemented to control the rupture resistance of the composite shaft and then its critical speed analysis and modal analysis were carried out using ANSYS. The behavior of materials is considered nonlinear isotropic for adhesive, linear isotropic for metal and orthotropic for composite shaft. The results showed significant points about the appropriate design of composite drive shafts. The substitution of composite drive shaft 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 composite shaft.