Optimal Sizing and Stacking Sequence of Composite Drive Shafts

Abstract

In this work an attempt has been made for design optimization of composite drive shafts for power transmission applications. The one-piece composite drive shaft is designed to replace conventional steel drive shaft of an automobile using E-glass / epoxy and high modulus (HM) carbon/epoxy composites. A formulation and solution technique using genetic algorithms (GAs) for design optimization of composite drive shafts is presented here. The purpose of using GA is to minimize the weight of shaft that is subjected to the constraints such as torque transmission, torsional buckling capacities and fundamental lateral natural frequency. The weight savings of the E-glass / epoxy and high modulus carbon/epoxy shaft were 48.36 % and 86.90 % of the steel shaft respectively