TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
PULCHOWK CAMPUS

A
Report
On
Stress and Deformation Analysis of Stepped Shaft Under Given Conditions

Submitted To:
Mr. Bikram Koirala
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Submitted By:
Pankaj Mehta (073BME619)
 1. INTRODUCTION

A shaft is characterized by its circular cross-section that is used to transmit power or motion. It
provides axis of rotation to the gears, fans, flywheels, cranks, sprockets and the like and also
controls the geometry of their motion. Before fabricating a shaft for certain operation, it is essential
that the shaft be tested for failure either when static conditions apply or under fluctuating stresses.
It is essential to find the critical locations of stresses as well as the of the models of shafts after
the shaft dimensions have been established.

2. PROBLEM PROCLAMATION

A shaft as shown in the figure below is driven by a gear at the right keyway, drives a fan at the left
keyway and is supported by two deep-groove bearings. The shaft is made from AISI 1020 cold-
drawn steel. At steady state speed, a radial load of 10.6 kN (1.1+0.5*x; x=roll no.) and a tangential
load of 12.5kN (3+0.5*x; x=roll no.) at a pitch diameter of 200mm. Find the stress concentrations
and deformation of the shaft using ANSYS software.

Fig. 1
 Fig. 2

3. OBJECTIVES
The fundamental objective of the modelling is
 to get brief ideas about stress concentrations in shafts and
 the deflection of a shaft due to various forces applied.

4. METHODOLODY

4.1 3D MODELLING
The 3D model is first generated in Solidworks and then imported to ANSYS. The model as rendered in
ANSYS Spaceclaim is shown in Fig. 2. The model has keyways- one to the left for fan and the other to the
right for gear. Also two seats for bearings are located on both sides of the right keyway having equal
diameters. Likewise, a groove is present to the right of the right keyway and the shaft is filleted at various
edges to minimize stress concentrations at these points.

4.2 MATERIALS
The shaft is made of AISI 1020 steel . The mechanical properties of AISI 1020 CD steel is tabulated below:

Material Tensile Yield Strength Elongation % Reduction % Brinell

Strength MPa MPa Hardness
AISI 1020 CD 470 390 15 40 131

4.3 MESH
After the 3D model is rendered, meshing is done by using Triangular Mesh and Body Sizing. Element size
of 0.001m is used for greater accuracy.
 Fig. 3

4.4 LOADS AND CONSTRAINTS

After meshing, loads and constraints are applied. Fixed support is applied at the seats of bearings
to emulate the constrained motion provided by the bearings. A radial force of 10.6 kN is applied
in the negative y-direction and a tangential load of 12.5 kN is applied in the positive z- direction.
Also, torque of 2500 Nm is applied about anticlockwise x-direction.

Fig. 4

5. RESULTS

The distribution of stress is shown in the Fig. 5. The figure shows that higher stress concentrations
present at three locations –one in the groove of the shaft, two others in the bearing seats when
change of shaft diameter is highest. The largest stress is of 2.88e9 Pa at the right bearing seat and
lowest stress is at the fan seat, the stress being 0.59317 Pa.

Fig. 5

Similarly, the distribution of deformation is shown in Fig. 6. It is seen that the maximum
deformation of about 0.000104m occurs near the keyway of gear as shown in red. It is because
this region resists the transmission of power from one gear to another and hence they get
deformed. The least deformation occurs to the left and right ends as shown in black where fans,
and bearings do not offer any resistance to the rotation of shaft.

Fig. 6

6. CONCLUSIONS
The failure of the shaft occurs by the tearing of the the critical locations at the bearing seats.
Similarly, maximum deformation occurs at the gear keyways due to the resistance offered
by the gear for motion of power transmission.