CHAPTER FIVE

TORSION OF CIRCULAR SHAFT

5.1 Introduction

A shaft is a structural member that is used to transmit power as well as rotational motion. A
ship’s propeller shaft and an automotive drive shaft transmit power. A shaft power provides
the axis of rotation for trains and flywheels. This structural member has applications in
automotive and aircraft engines, pulleys and sprockets, clock mechanisms and other
machinery. A typical shaft can be a straight cylinder, a stepped cylinder and the frustum of a
cone with a solid or hollow cone. The cross section of a shaft can also take a non circular shape.

A shaft can resist torsional load (torque), bending moment and axial load. Focus will be
confirmed to the analysis of a circular shaft that is subjected only to torque.

5.2 Derivation of Torsion Equation

The torsion equation will be derived with the following assumptions:

• the shaft material is isotropic

• the circular shaft remains circular after loading
• a plane section of shaft normal to its axis before loading remains plane
after the torques have been applied
• the twist along the shaft length is uniform throughout
• maximum shear stress induced in the shaft due to application of torque does not exceed
its elastic limit value.
• the distance between any two normal cross sections remains the same after the
application of torque.

A circular shaft cantilevered out of a wall is depicted as shown. It has a length, l, with a uniform
circular cross section and radius R, it is subjected to a torque load, T, that acts along the axis
of the shaft which is considered as the x-coordiante axis, the shear modulus of the shaft material
is G.

If a line LM is drawn on the shaft, it will be distorted to LM on the application of the torque,
the cross section will be twisted through and  and surface by angle .
Shear strain, , is defined as:
𝑀𝑀,
ɸ= (1)
𝑙

Recall
𝜏
ɸ=𝐺 (2)

Equating equation (1) and equation (2)

𝑀𝑀, 𝜏
=𝐺 (3)
𝑙

Arc length 𝑀𝑀, = 𝑅𝜃

Equation (3) becomes;

𝑅𝜃 𝜏
=𝐺
𝑙

Rearranging
𝜏 𝑅𝜃
= (4)
𝑅 𝑙

Consider an elementary ring of thickness dx at a radius x and let the shear stress at this radius
be 𝜏𝑥

The turning force on the elementary ring

𝑑𝐹 = 𝜏𝑥 2𝜋𝑥𝑑𝑥

The turning moment due to this turning force is;

𝑑𝑇 = 𝜏𝑥 2𝜋𝑥𝑑𝑥. 𝑥 = 𝜏𝑥 2𝜋𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥

The total moment is then

𝑅
∫ 𝑑𝑇 = 2𝜋 ∫0 𝜏𝑥 𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥 (5)

Because of the circular symmetry of the shaft cross section, the shear stress varies linearly from
the center to the outer radius as
𝜏𝑥 𝜏
=
𝑥 𝑅

𝜏𝑥
𝜏𝑥 = 𝑅

Substituting in equation (5)

𝑅 𝜏𝑥
∫ 𝑑𝑇 = 2𝜋 ∫0 𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥
𝑅

𝜏 𝑅
∫ 𝑑𝑇 = 2𝜋 𝑅 ∫0 𝑥 3 𝑑𝑥

𝑅
𝜏 𝑥4
𝑇 = 2𝜋 𝑅 | 4 |
0

𝜏 𝜋𝑅 4
𝑇=𝑅× 2

Recall
𝜋𝑅 4
𝐽= 2

𝜏
𝑇 =𝑅×𝐽

Therefore;
𝑇 𝜏
=𝑅
𝐽

𝜏 𝑇
= (6)
𝑅 𝐽

Equating equation (4) and equation (6)

𝜏 𝑅𝜃 𝑇
= = (7)
𝑅 𝑙 𝐽

From equation (7)

𝐽
𝑇 = 𝜏 × 𝑅 = 𝜏𝑍𝑝

Zp is called polar modulus of the shaft section is a measure of the strength of shaft in torsion.

Again from equation (7)

𝑇𝑙
𝜃 = 𝐺𝐽

𝐺𝐽
The quantity = 𝐾 is called the torsional rigidity
𝑙

𝑇
𝜃=𝐾

The power transmitted by the shaft is

 2𝜋𝑁𝑇
𝑃 = 𝑇𝜔 =
60

N is the rotating speed in rpm.

EXAMPLES

1) What must be the length of a 5mm diameter aluminium wire so that it can be twisted
through one complete revolution without exceeding a shearing stress of 42MN/m2.

2) A hollow steel shaft 3m long must transmit a torque of 25kNm. The total angle of

twist in this length is not to exceed 2.5o and the allowable shearing stress is

90MPa. Determine the inside and outside diameter of the shaft if G = 85GPa.
3). A hollow shaft is to transmit 300kW at 80rpm. If the shear stress is not to exceed
 60MN/m2 and internal diameter is 0.6 of the external diameter, find the external and
internal diameters assuming that the maximum torque is 1.4 times the mean torque.

Problems

1) In a tensile test a test piece of 25mm diameter, 200mm guage length, stretched
0.0975mm under a pull of 50kN. In a torsion test, the same rod twisted 0.025 radian
over a length of 200mm when a torque of 0.4kNm was applied. Evaluate Poisson ratio
and the three elastic moduli for the material.
2) A solid shaft and a hollow shaft, each of length 254mm are subjected to a 150Nm
torque. The solid shaft which is made of steel with Young’s modulus E = 210GPa,
Poisson ratio = 0.3 and density 1250kg/m3 has a diameter of 30mm. The hollow shaft,
which is made of the same material, has an inside diameter that 75% of its outside
diameter but its weight is equal to that of the solid shaft. Calculate the ratio of maximum
shear stress and the angle of twist for the hollow shaft to the solid shaft.

3) Hollow steel shaft of 100mm internal diameter and 150mm external diameter is to be
replaced by a solid alloy shaft. If the polar modulus has the same value for both,
calculate the diameter of the latter and the ratio of their torsional rigidities.

4) A solid circular shaft has a slight taper extending uniformly from one end to the other.
Denote the radius at the small end by a, that at the larger end by b. Determine the error
committed if the angle of twist for a given length is calculated using the mean radius of
the shaft. The radius at the larger end is 1.2 times that at the smaller end.