DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE DRIVE SHAFT

Almost all automobiles which correspond to design with rear wheel drive and front engine installation have transmission shafts. In heavy duty vehicles driveshaft is one of the important components. The weight reduction of the drive shaft can have a certain role in the general weight reduction of the vehicle and is a highly desirable goal it can be achieved without increase in cost and decrease in quality and reliability. The aim of this work is to replace the conventional steel driveshaft of automobiles with an appropriate composite driveshaft. The conventional drive shafts are made in two pieces for reducing the bending natural frequency whereas the composite shafts can be made as single-piece shafts thus reducing the overall weight. The design parameters were optimized with the objective of minimizing the weight of composite drive shaft.