Investigation of vibration characteristics of carbon/epoxy propeller shaft for vehicle

Abstract

Composite propeller shafts for a vehicle have major advantages such as reduction of vibration, noise, and weight. A propeller shaft was designed with a carbon/epoxy composite material using the finite element method (FEM), and prototype shafts for tests were manufactured by the filament winding manufacturing process. In order to verify the design procedure by FEM, two kinds of experimental tests were carried out using a FFT analyzer with impact hammers and a critical speed measuring apparatus for measurement of natural frequencies and critical speeds. The difference between the FEM analysis result and the test result was less than 2.0%, showing FEM analysis results to be acceptable. The parametric study was focused on determining the factor affecting the vibration and strength characteristics of the propeller shaft based on FEM. In investigation of the change in natural frequency without an increase in propeller shaft weight, it was found that the winding angle is the most significant factor affecting the vibration and strength characteristics.