Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Dr. D. Y. Patil SOE, Lohegaon, Pune, Dec 2019
Design and Analysis of Composite Reinforced Steel
Propeller Shaft for Improved Strength
Amol A. Kamblea, Prof. A. B. Gaikwadb
ab
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. D. Y. Patil School of engineering, Lohegaon, Pune-412105, Savitribai
Phule Pune University
Abstract— Drive shaft is common part used in all king of power
transmission machines. They undergo various torsional loads
during their operational life cycles. Steel shaft due to higher
durability are used for manufacturing of drive shaft on a wider
scale. Weight of steel shaft is heavy as compared to overall weight
drive mechanism. This form basis of replacement of steel shaft
with hybrid composite shaft. Shaft with carbon fiber epoxy coating
will be manufactured with dimension of steel shaft. Finite element
analysis of both shafts will be done under torsional loading using
Ansys 19.2 software. CATIA V5 will be used for CAD
modeling/Design of both shafts. Experimental investigation will be
done using Universal Testing Machine. Comparative analysis of
FEA and Experimental will be done for validation of work.
Conclusion and future scope will be suggested.
Keywords— Carbon Fiber Shaft, Carbon Fiber, CATIA, FEA,
Torsion Test
INTRODUCTION
Since the mid 19th century, new composite materials have been
regarded as potential candidates for manufacturing drive shafts
because of their high specific stiffness and strength. Previous
studies on this topic have dealt mainly with composite shaft
design in the subcritical case that is when the first critical speed
is never exceeded. However, when a long driveline is required
(in the case of helicopters, tilt-rotors, tailless aircraft with twin
turboprops, etc.), an additional means of increasing the drive
shaft length consists in operating above the first critical speed,
in the so-called supercritical regime. The main plus point of
long shafts is that they reduce the number of bearing supports
required, and thus greatly decrease the maintenance costs and
the weight of the driveline. The design process is more
complex, however, because the shaft has to cross a critical
speed, and dynamic instabilities due to rotating damping can
occur in this regime. Aeronautic applications lend themselves
well to operating in the supercritical regime because the
driveline always rotates at the nominal speed during flight,
since they undergo acceleration and deceleration processes on
the ground. The aim of this paper is to optimize a supercritical
drive shaft in this practical case.
Carbon fibers or carbon fibers has range about 5–
10 micrometers in diameter and composed commonly
of carbon atoms. Biggest advantage of Carbon fibers have
including high tensile strength , high stiffness, low weight, high
chemical resistance, high temperature tolerance and low
thermal expansion. This equity has made carbon fiber very
special in aerospace, military, and motorsports, along with other
competition sports. Carbon fibers are relatively expensive
when compared with other different fibers, such like glass
fibers or plastic fibers.
For manufacturing a carbon fiber, the atoms of carbon are
bonded together in crystals structure that are more or less
aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber as the crystal
alignment gives the fiber high strength-to-volume ratio (making
it strong for its size). Several thousand carbon fibers are
bundled together to form a tow, which may be used by itself
or woven into a fabric.
Carbon fibers are generally combined with different materials
to form a composite. When saturated arrangement containing
with a plastic resin and baked it forms carbon-fiber-reinforced
polymer (often referred to as carbon fiber) which has a
better strength-to-weight ratio, and is extremely rigid although
somewhat brittle. These Fibers are also combined with other
similar structure materials, such as graphite, to form reinforced
carbon-carbon composites, which have a very high heat
tolerance.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Veltech Multitech Dr. Rangarajan Dr. Sakunthala Engineering
College, Avadi, Chenna-62, India. This paper evaluates the
suitability of composite material such as E-Glass/Epoxy for
the purpose of automotive drive shaft application. A one-piece
composite shaft is optimally analyzed using Finite Element
Analysis Software for E-Glass/Epoxy composites with the
objective of minimizing the weight of the shaft, which is
subjected to the constraints such as torque transmission,
critical buckling torque capacity and bending natural
frequency. A one-piece composite drive shaft is considered to
be replaced a steel drive shaft. Its design procedures have been
studied along with finite element analysis, natural and critical
frequencies are obtained. The composite drive shaft which is
made up of high modulus carbon/epoxy multilayered
composites has been designed. The replacement of composite
materials has been resulted in considerable amount of weight

reduction about 72% when compared to conventional steel
shaft. Also, the results reveal that the orientation of fibers has
great influence on the dynamic characteristics of the
composite shafts.
Parshuram D 1 , Sunil Mangsetty2 . Pda College of
Engineering Gulbarga1 The main concept of our project is to
reduce the weight of automotive drive shaft with the
utilization of composite material. 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 .As
the automotive drive shaft is a very important component of
vehicle. The modeling of the drive shaft assembly was done
using CATIA software. A shaft has to be designed to meet the
stringent design requirements for automotives. In automobiles
the drive shaft is used for the transmission of motion from the
engine to the differential. An automotive propeller shaft, or
drive shaft , transmits power from the engine to differential
gears of rear wheel-driving vehicle. In present work an
attempt has been to estimate deflection, stresses under
subjected loads & natural frequencies using FEA.
Jeonghoon Ha1 , Dongchan Shin2 , Yongtak Lee3 and Kibong
Han Jungwon University, 85 Munmu-ro, Goesan-gun, South
Korea. Recently, research on the light weight of automobiles
by the regulation of carbon dioxide emission due to
environmental problems has been activated, and therefore,
they are interested in automobile polymer composites mainly
in automobile advanced countries. Composite materials for
automobiles are made by mixing glass fiber or carbon fiber
with polymer fiber base. Composite materials are not only
superior in weight, specific modulus, stiffness, corrosion
resistance, impact resistance, but also the components can
easily be unified.
Palani S 2Mohana Krishna 3Lokeshwaran B. 4Rahul V
Prajitsen G.Damle, et.al, Review of Design of Hybrid
Aluminum/ Composite Drive Shaft for Automobile,
International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring
Engineering (IJITEE), Volume-2, Issue-4, March 2013, Pages-
259-266.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Lighter vehicle results to higher efficiency and power.
Substitute’s metallic structure with composite can help in
achieving higher stiffness and light weight components. This is
basis of experimenting composite reinforced steel shaft over
existing shaft. Since we want to increase the strength of an
already existing shaft without much increase in cost and weight.
Therefore, we have selected steel shaft reinforced with carbon
fiber.
Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Dr. D. Y. Patil SOE, Lohegaon, Pune, Dec 2019
OBJECTIVES
Objective of this project includes Modeling of steel shaft,
preparation of CAD design using CATIA V5. After that
Analysis for stresses, deformation and reaction moments are
carried out.
Then second part is to Prepare epoxy reinforced steel shaft.
Analyze for stresses, deformation and reaction moments on
composite shaft.
Actual experimental testing is done on Torsion Testing
Machine and correlating results.
METHODOLOGY
Step 1: - I started the work of this project with literature survey.
I gathered many research papers which are relevant to this topic.
After going through these papers, I learnt about Reinforcement
& Analysis of Carbon Fiber Shaft.
Step2: - After that the components which are required for my
project are decided.
Step 3: - After deciding the components, the 3 D Model and
drafting was drawn with the help of CATIA software.
Step 4: - The Analysis of the components was done with the
help of ANSYS using FEA.
Step 5: - The experimental observations will be taken on
Universal Testing Machine.
Step 6: - Comparative analysis of Reaction forces will be made
between simulation and experimental results and then Results
and conclusions will be drawn.
DESIGN CALCULATIONS
We are considering the propeller shaft of Autorickshaw.
So, we are considering the power and speed of Auto rikshaw
(Petrol).
Power = P = 8.1KW = 8.1*103 Watt
Maximum Torque = 18 Nm
Maximum Speed = 3500 RPM
Material of Propeller Shaft = Steel
Length of shaft = 200mm [1]
According to torsional rigidity diameter of shaft is given by-
D = (584*Mt*L/G*θ)1/4
Mt = 18Nm = 18*1000Nmm
From V.B.Bhandari, page no. 9.7 [2],
Angle of twist is 0.25 per meter length
So, for our length, Angle of twist is considered as (0.25/2)
G = 79300 N/mm2
D = 26.98 mm
But, next
Diameter of Shaft = 30mm
But while doing the testing the shaft is half scale downed.

STATIC ANALYSIS
Finite Element Analysis:
Design of existing suspension control Arm is done by using
CAD package CATIA V5 as per following;
Fig. 1 CATIA model of steel shaft
Fig. 2 CATIA Model of Carbon Shaft
Fig. 3 Solid Mesh of steel shaft
Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Dr. D. Y. Patil SOE, Lohegaon, Pune, Dec 2019
Fig. 4 Meshing of Carbon fiber shaft
Boundary Condition
A boundary condition for the model is the setting of a known
value for a displacement or an associated load.
Fig. 5 Boundary Condition of Steel Shaft
One end is fixed and other end is rotated at about 945 deg,
which is obtained from testing
Fig. 6 Boundary Condition of Carbon Shaft
One end is fixed and other end is rotated at about 117 deg ,
which is obtained from testing
Total Deformation
The total deformation & directional deformation are general
terms in finite element methods irrespective of software being
used.
Directional deformation can be put as the displacement of the
system in a particular axis or user defined direction.
Total deformation is the vector sum all directional
displacements of the systems.
 Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Dr. D. Y. Patil SOE, Lohegaon, Pune, Dec 2019

Fig. 7 Total Deformation of Steel Shaft

Fig. 9 Torque testing value of steel shaft

Fig. 8 Total Deformation of Carbon Shaft

EXPERIMENTAL TESTING
Preparation of Reinforcement of Carbon Epoxy: Fig. 10 Torque testing value of Carbon Fiber Shaft
A liquid Epoxy is available in market.
Mix Cobalt around 4-5 ml to 200-250 ml of Epoxy.
Stir well for homogeneous mixture.
A layer of Epoxy liquid is applied on tube. Then one layer of
Carbon fiber is placed on it.
Then another layer of Epoxy is applied using brush on it, and
Carbon fiber is stuck to it.
Need to repeat the process for 3 times.
Then the shaft is kept for 5 hours in room temperature. [3]

Then shaft diameter is measured & machined if not to the

required size.
Fig. 11 Steel Shaft after testing
Torsion tests twist a material or test component to a specified
degree, with a specified force, or until the material fails in
torsion. The twisting force of a torsion test is applied to the test
sample by anchoring one end so that it cannot move or rotate
and applying a moment to the other end so that the sample is
rotated about its axis. The rotating moment may also be applied
to both ends of the sample but the ends must be rotated in
opposite directions. The forces and mechanics found in this test
are similar to those found in a piece of string that has one end
held in a hand and the other end twisted by the other.
 Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Dr. D. Y. Patil SOE, Lohegaon, Pune, Dec 2019

Fig. 12 Carbon Shaft after test

RESULTS &CONCLUSION
SR.NO. CHARACTERISTICS STEEL CARBON
SHAFT FIBRE
1. Total Deformation 14.41 12.73
(mm)
2. Equivalent stress 692.32 1455.1
(MPa)

From the above testing results, we get the torque values. The
torque required for steel shaft is 3.99Nm and that for the Carbon
shaft is 13.06Nm. So, the torque required for carbon shaft is
more. So, the Strength of the Carbon fiber shaft is more than
that of the steel shaft.
As the shaft breaks at same location in Testing & Analysis, the
result is validated.

REFERENCES
 [1] TVS Three Wheeler Autorickshaw Specification
Sheet

 [2] Dr. V. B. Bhandari, Page No 9.7