MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M.

Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

TOPIC 1: DESIGN OF POWER TRANSMISSION SHAFTS

A shaft comprise of one of the most commonly used of the machine elements.
A shaft is a rotating or stationary member which transmits power. This is the part in
which other machine members such as gears, pulleys etc. are mounted.

Classification of Shafts
 Axle
 Spindle
 Line shafts
 Stud shaft or head shaft
 Counter shaft
 Flexible shaft

Axle shaft
Are machine elements chiefly loaded in bending and generally does not rotate e.g.
railway axle.
Spindle
Are short shaft or axle e.g. drill spindle, lathe spindle.
Liner Shafts
A long shaft which get power from the prime mover e.g. propeller shaft.
Stud shaft / Head shaft
This is a transmission shaft of short length shaft.
Counter Shaft/Jack Shaft.
Shafts that are placed in between line shaft and driven shaft e.g. gearbox shafts.

Types of Shafts
The following two types of shafts are important from the subject point of view :
1. Transmission shafts. These shafts transmit power between the source and the
machines absorbing power. The counter shafts, line shafts, over head shafts and all
factory shafts are transmission shafts. Since these shafts carry machine parts such as
pulleys, gears etc., therefore they are subjected to bending in addition to twisting.
2. Machine shafts. These shafts form an integral part of the machine itself. The crank
shaft is an example of machine shaft.

Material Used for Shafts

The material used for shafts should have the following properties :
1. It should have high strength.
2. It should have good machinability.
3. It should have low notch sensitivity factor.
4. It should have good heat treatment properties.
5. It should have high wear resistant properties.
The material used for ordinary shafts is carbon steel of grades 40 C 8, 45 C 8, 50 C 4 and
50 C 12.

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

The mechanical properties of these grades of carbon steel are given in the following
table.
Designation Ultimate tensile strength, MPa Yield strength, MPa
40 C8 560 - 670 320
45 C 8 610 - 700 350
50 C 4 640 - 760 370
50 C 12 700 Min. 390

When a shaft of high strength is required, then an alloy steel such as nickel, nickel-
chromium or chrome-vanadium steel is used.

Type of shafts Material Remarks

Commercial Low carbon There are commonly made of cold rolled stock if
Shafts and Steel, Mild steel the diameter is less than 75mm. Cold finished
Transmission shafts are strong but have certain disadvantages.
shafts (a)Tolerance is not very close.
(b)Presence of residual stress getting released at the
time of cutting keyways e.t.c. with the results that
shaft deforms. Due to this reason shafts of dia.
75mm are made of hot rolled or forged stock.
Proper finished is obtained through turning and
other machining operation. Heat treatment is also
done to get the required hardness.

Alloy steel, For large speed machinery and greater strength

Copper alloy shafts subjected to shocks and for resistance to
steel, stainless corrosion. Alloy steel must be heat
steel treated.

Manufacturing of Shafts
Shafts are generally manufactured by hot rolling and finished to size by cold drawing
or turning and grinding. The cold rolled shafts are stronger than hot rolled shafts but
with higher residual stresses. The residual stresses may cause distortion of the shaft
when it is machined, especially when slots or keyways are cut. Shafts of larger diameter
are usually forged and turned to size in a lathe.

Shafts are generally manufactured from ductile material, the type of shaft; environment
and service condition are the main factors influencing the choice of material and
method of manufacture.

Table below gives the common transmission shafts sizes in mm.

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

25 50 90 160 260 360 460

30 55 100 180 280 300 480
35 60 110 200 300 400 500
40 70 125 220 320 420
45 80 140 240 340 440
Generally shafts are manufactured in lengths limited to 7m. If the length of the shafts
required is more than 7m coupling are used.
Determination of Shafts Geometry
The geometry configuration of the shaft to be designed is usually determined by past
experience and most often is simplify a revision of existing model in which a limited
number of changes must be made.
These changes can results from various reasons;
i) Use of newly designed seal or coupling
ii) Change in Power or Speed
iii) Use of bearing of different speeds

There is no formula to determine the shaft joint for every given design situation. Many
types of shafts design situation include the problem to transmit Torque from one
element to other.
Common Torque transfer elements
 Keys and Keyways
 Splines
 Pins
 Set screws
 Shrinks fit, press fit or tapered fit.

All these torque transfer means solve the problem of securing the wheel or device to the
shaft but not all of them solve the problem of axial location of the device. Some of the
most common types of locational devices include:

 Sleeve
 Shaft shoulder
 Nuts & washers
 Ring and grove or circlips
 Split hub or tapered two piece hub
 Set screws
 Collar and screw
 Pin

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

Permissible stresses, twists and deflections

The allowable stresses for the design of shafts depend on the allowing conditions.
a) Type of loading, static or cyclic
b) If the material is ductile the design is based on maximum shear stress theory or
principal stress theory.
c) Impact load or gradual applied load
d) Presence of stress raiser/stress concentration factors e.g. keyways, shoulders etc
e) Load factors on machine element such as coupling, shaft e.t.c. that transmit
power from a prime mower.
Driven machine is object to a fluctuating torque, Fluctuation being 100% or more. The
ratio of max. Torque to the average or min torque is called the load factor.

Max.Torque
LoadFactor 
No min al.Torque
Load factors for various machines, K l
Type of prime Type of driven Kl Remarks
Mover Machine
Steam turbine Electric generator- 1.0 For steam engines
Steady load, turbine Multiply 1.2-1.5x K l
Electric generator- 1.25 For gas and oil engines
Uneven load, Multiply 1.3-1.6x K l
Centrifugal Pump
Induced draft fan, 1.5
Line Shaft, Gear
Drive
Rolling Mill, Gear 2.0
Drive
Electric Motor Turbine Blower, 1.25
Metal Working
Machinery
Centrifugal Pump, 1.5
Wood Working
Machinery
Line Shaft, Ship 1.75
Propeller, Double
Acting Pump
Triplex Single Acting 1.75
pump, crane
Compressor-air or 1.75
ammonia
Rolling Mill, Rubber 2.5

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

Mill
The transmitted torque or hp should be multiplied by K l to get value of torque or hp for
which the machine part must be designed. Depending on various factors, safe stresses
and multiplying factors are given:

Static loading
 t  0.6 yt ,  t  0.36 ut ,   0.50 t ,   0.30 yt ,   0.18 ut
Where  t = allowable tensile stress,  = allowable shear stress,  ut ,  yt = ultimate and
yield strengths of the material.

Cyclic and Impact loading

For the shaft to be designed as if static loading is acting, the values of bending moment
M and torque T must be multiplied by the factors C m and C t respectively that are given
in table below.

Value of bending moment factor C m and twisting moment C t

Nature of load Service conditions Cm Ct

Static Load applied
gradually 1.0 1.0
Load applied
Suddenly 1.5 – 2.0 1.5 – 2.0
Cycling Load applied
Gradually 1.5 1.0
Steady load 1.5 1.0
Load applied
Suddenly 1.5 – 2.0 1.0 – 1.5
Minor shocks 2.0-3.0 1.5 – 3.0
Major shocks >3.0 >3.0

Shafts with keyways and other stress-raisers.

The Keyway cut into a shaft affects the strength or load carrying capacity mainly due to
two reasons.

a) Stress concentration near the corners of the Keyway

b) Reduction in the cross-sectional area.

Due to these reasons torsion strength reduces.

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

The reduction factors are given as:

w h
K t  1.0  0.2  1.1
d d

w h
K   1.0  0.4  0 .7
d d

Where K t  reduction factor for strength

w  Width of key
h  Length of Key
d  Diameter of shaft
The value K  should be disregarded unless the keyway is too long and Key is sliding
type.
Whenever possible the power transmission elements such as gear coupling, pulleys
e.t.c. should be located close to the bearings. This reduces bending moment and hence
deflection and bending stresses.

Effort should be made to reduce stress concentration to the minimum such as:

 Rough surfaces should be eliminated and reduce sharp corners.

 Stress and shrink fit collars should be provided with care.
 Shafts must also be retained axially in the bearings.

Designing of Shafts
The shafts may be designed on the basis of 1. Strength, and 2. Rigidity and stiffness.

In designing shafts on the basis of strength, the following cases may be considered :
(a) Shafts subjected to twisting moment or torque only,
(b) Shafts subjected to bending moment only,
(c) Shafts subjected to combined twisting and bending moments, and
(d) Shafts subjected to axial loads in addition to combined torsional and bending loads

The loads to which the shaft are subjected may cause bending, simple torsion and
axially loading with or without column effect.

Simple Bending

Let M be the bending moment acting on a hollow shaft of external diameter d o and
internal diameter d i then using the bending equation:

For hollow shaft:

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

32M 1 di
t  . , where K for solid shaft K  0
d o 1  K 4
3
do

Simple Bending Axial Loading

For an axial load Fa the stress induced in a hollow shaft is:

4 Fa .
 (d o 2  d i 2 )

Where  a constant taking into is account the column factor and is given by the
following relation:

1

L
1  0.0044 
k

Where L  Length of shaft between supports, k  Radius of gyration.

For the column action, k  1
For combined bending and axial loading

32M 1 4 Fa .
t  . 
d o 1  K
3 4
 (d o 2  d i 2 )
Simple Torsion
For a given torque T :
Tr TL

, 
Ip I pG
For hollow shaft the design equation becomes

16T 1

. for solid shafts K  0
d o 1  K 4
3

Where r  radial distance of outermost fiber

I p  Polar moment of inertia

 (d o  d i )
4 4

32
  Angular twist in radians
G  Modulus of rigidity in shear.
Designing the shaft on the basis of rigidity the angle  should be very small. Not over
0.32o per meter shafts length.

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

In cam shaft total angle of twist should not exceed 0.5o irrespective of length.

Combined Bending and Torsion

Under combined action of bending and torsion, it is required to calculate equivalent
bending moment M e or equivalent torque Te .

1
Me  (M  M 2  T 2 ) and Te  M 2 T 2
2
32M 1
In  t  . substitute M for M e we have
d o 1  K 4
3

t 
16
.
d o 1  K
3
1
4

M  M 2 T 2  Based on maximum principal stress theory

and  
16
.
d o 1  K
3
1
4
 
M 2  T 2 based on maximum shear stress theory

For solid shafts K  0 in all above equations.

Variable bending and Torsion

The variable nature of loading is accounted for by using correction factors. Equivalent
bending moments and torque are modified by the factors C m and C t respectively.

t 
16
d o 3
.
1 
1
K 4

C m M  (C m M ) 2  (Ct T ) 2  and


16
d o 3
.
1 
1
K 4
 
(C m M ) 2  (Ct T ) 2

Bending forces and torque due to belts and pulleys.

Let T1 and T2 be tight side and slack side tensions of belt transmitting power at a speed
of n revolutions per minute. Let R be the radius of pulley.

Figure below shows the various forces acting on the pulley.

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

T1
Torque Transmitted T  (T1  T2 ) R  e 
and
T2
Net pull on the pulley producing bending action on the shaft is given by:

T  (T1  T2 )  C (T1  T2 )

  Coefficient of friction between belt and pulley

  Angle of contact in radians
  Inclinationof the belt to the horizontal
C  a Constant taken as 2 for flat belts and 1.5 for v- belt
The tensions T1 and T2 depend on the direction of rotation of the pulley and whether
the pulley is receiving or delivering power.

Forces due to spur gears

For forces acting on gear tooth as shown below. The direction of total force Wt acting on
the gear tooth like pulley depends on the direction of rotation and whether the gear is
receiving or delivering power.

WT 
T

30P
and WN  WT tan  where
R nR

R  radius of the pitch circle,

  involute pressure angle in degrees,

N  Speed in rpm, P  power and

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MPEN 421: Design of Machine Elements II: Lecturer: Eng. M. Swaleh Tel: 0721 868 758

W N ,WT  the normal and tangential forces respectively.

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