AN ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE DRIVE SHAFT USING ANSYS ACP

Almost all automobiles (at least those which correspond to design with a rear wheel drive and front engine installation) have transmission shafts. 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, if it can be achieved without an increase in the cost and decrease in the quality and reliability. In this paper, an automobile drive shaft is designed using ANSYS ACP workbench and analysis performed using ANSYS static structural workbench. Analysis preformed on 4 different materials which includes conventional structural steel and 3 different composite materials. E glass/ Epoxy, High strength Carbon Epoxy (230GPA) and High Modulus Carbon Epoxy (395GPA). Results are compared and conclude High strength carbon is the optimum material for manufacturing the automobile drive shaft.