PSI - Issue 12

Andrea Mura et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 12 (2018) 52–57 Mura et Al. / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2018) 000 – 000

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Fig. 2. Shaft model with spline coupling and bearings

The loading torque is applied on one side on the shaft, and in the opposite side, a reaction torque is imposed. Contact conditions have been applied on the spline coupling teeth in order to acquire the contact pressure distribution.

4. Results

Simulations have been performed in aligned and misaligned conditions in order to appreciate how the contact pressure pattern changes in the two working conditions. Two loading levels have been considered with respectively 400Nm and 800Nm torque. The misalignment angle has been set at 0.5°. Fig. 3 shows the contact pressure distribution on all the spline teeth in the simulation without misalignment. In the upper part of Fig.3, the not loaded spline tooth flanks are shown: the contact pressure is zero as they are not in contact.

Fig. 3. Pressure distribution in case of aligned shafts at 400 Nm torque.

In the bottom side of Fig. 3 the engaged flanks are represented. It is possible to appreciate the uniform load distribution among the teeth and that the maximum contact pressure is located at the middle point of the face width.