Finite Element Analysis and optimization of Automotive Composite Drive Shaft

Almost all automobiles (at least those which correspond to design with 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. Substituting composite structures for conventional metallic structures has many advantages because of higher specific stiffness and strength of composite materials. The advanced composite materials such as graphite, carbon, Kevlar and Glass with suitable resins are widely used because of their high specific strength and high specific modulus. Advanced composite materials seem ideally suited for long power driver shaft applications. The automotive industry is exploiting composite material technology for structural components construction in order to obtain the reduction of the weight without decrease in vehicle quality and reliability. It is known that energy conservation is one of the most important objectives in vehicle design and reduction of weight is one of the most effective measures to obtain this result. Actually, there is almost a direct proportionality between the weight of a vehicle and its fuel consumption, particularly in city driving. The present work includes, analysis done on drive shaft of Toyota quails with different composite materials and concludes that the use of composite materials for drive shaft would induce less amount of stress which additionally reduces the weight of the vehicle. In present work, analysis done on dive shaft with different composite materials and concludes that the use of composite materials for drive shaft would induce less amount of stress which additionally reduces the weight of the vehicle.