Design and Analysis of Composite Structures for Automotive Applications

5Optimization of Composite Driveshaft

5.1 Torsion of Anisotropic Shafts With Solid Cross‐Sections

The function and design of the common driveshafts made of steel are presented in Chapter 6.7 of Stone and Ball (2004). The composite drive shaft has advantages of substantial weight reduction, the dynamic balance of increasing operating speed (Badie et al. 2006, 2011). The material is electrically nonconductive and the proper design allows adapting the end fitting. The advantages of the composite design assure perfect performance from the viewpoint of vibrations and harshness, long fatigue life and reduction in bearing wear. The materials usually have a lower modulus of elasticity, meaning that when torque peaks occur, the drive shaft may work as a shock absorber. A drive shaft commonly operates through constantly changing angles between the transmission and rare axle driveshafts (Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1 Driveshafts of a common passenger car.

Composite drive shafts are widely used in automotive and aeronautical applications due to their weight advantage combined with exceptional strength and stiffness (Beardmore and Johnson 1986; Kaviprakash et al. 2014; Cherniaev and Komarov 2015). One of the first composite applications was the driveshaft (propshaft) in the Renault Espace Quadra built in 1988 (Pollard 1989) (Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2 Composite propshaft in a Renault Espace Quadra ...