Investigation of Natural Frequencies of Composite Shaft using FFT and Numerical Method

The composite frameworks of modern metallic systems, because of their greater basic rigidity and strength, have many advantages. The purpose of this study is to replace the conventional steel propeller shaft with a single-piece e-glass / epoxy propeller shaft for an automotive application. The architecture of the steel propeller shaft is based on the Timoshenko beam principle. Different mechanical tests are conducted to determine the material properties based on the material properties optimisation of the parameters with the aim of minimizing composite propeller shaft weight. The composite material Propeller shaft with a 50:50 volume fraction is produced using filament winding machine based on the optimisation results. FFT Analyzer Tests are conducted to obtain the composite propeller shaft natural frequency. The results of experimental tests are validated with ANSYS.