MECHANICS

RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Mechanics Research Communications 32 (2005) 368374

www.elsevier.com/locate/mechrescom

Dynamics of hybrid shafts

H.B.H. Gubran
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Aden, P.O. Box 5243, Yemen
Available online 10 March 2005

Abstract
In this paper the dynamic performance and cross-section deformation of shafts made of metals (steel and aluminum), composites (CFRP and GFRP) and hybrids of metals and composites have been studied. A layered nite degenerated shell element with transverse shear deformation and dynamic behavior is employed. Results obtained show that
improvements in dynamic performance and reduction of cross-section deformation of hybrid shafts over metallic and
composite shafts are possible.

2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Composite and metallic shafts; Hybrid shafts; Natural frequency; Cross-section deformation; Shell nite element

1. Introduction
In recent years, composite materials have been used in many advanced engineering structures such as
mechanical, civil, aerospace, marine, etc. This is mainly due to excellent mechanical properties of such
materials, such as high stiness-to-weight and high strength-to-weight ratios which can be tailored by varying the bre orientation and stacking sequence of dierent plies. Further the composites oer good environmental resistance. Many investigators (for example, Belingardi et al., 1990; Lee and Kim, 1999) have
studied the use of composite materials for driveshafts and rotating cylindrical shells. Improvement in the
dynamic performance obtained by extending the design of uniform wall thickness shafts to tapered/variable
wall thickness shafts have been studied by Bauchau (1983); Kim et al. (1999) and Gubran and Gupta
(2002b). In general, composite driveshafts are thin tubular shells for which studies of vibration behavior
and cross-section deformation are important. Formulations based on degenerated shell nite element have
been used by several researchers (for example, Richardet et al., 2000; Gubran and Gupta, 2002a and Guo
et al., 2002). In the present work, a layered nine-node isoparametric shell nite element is used to derive the

E-mail address: h_gubran@yahoo.com

0093-6413/$ - see front matter
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mechrescom.2005.02.005

H.B.H. Gubran / Mechanics Research Communications 32 (2005) 368374

369

global mass and stiness matrices. The eigenvalues are determined using the subspace iteration method.
Later, displacements of dierent nodes along the circumferential direction of a certain cross-section at a
particular location along the shaft axial length are used to study the distortion of the cross-section at that
location.

2. Formulation
The cylindrical tube shown in Fig. 1 is assumed to be built up by a number of laminae perfectly bonded
together. There are no relative displacements between adjacent layers. A degenerated nine nodded isoparametric shell element (as shown in Fig. 1) is applied to the layers of the cylindrical tube. The formulation
takes into account transverse shear deformation and dynamic behavior. Referring to Fig. 1, the displacement eld at a point in the element can be expressed in global coordinates as
T

u v w

9
X
N k
fd k g

k1

where N k
is the generalized shape function matrix and {dk} = [uk vk wk a1k a2k]T is the nodal displacement
vector. The strain matrix [B] relating the strain components in the local system to the element nodal variables can be expressed as
feg

9
X

Bk
fd k g

k1

Z
Nodes 97-108
section 9 (Y=L)

t
Nodes 73-84
section 7
Nodes 49-60
section 5

Nodes 25-36
section 3
Nodes 1-12
section 1 (Y=0)

1
2
Mid surface

h1

h0

t/2

h k-1

k
N

Fig. 1. The laminated shaft and coordinate system.

hk

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H.B.H. Gubran / Mechanics Research Communications 32 (2005) 368374

As shown in Fig. 1, the natural coordinate f varies from 1 to +1, is determined at the middle point of each
layer and strainstress components and stiness contributions are computed at the midsection of each
layer. Consequently, the volume integral may be split into integrals over the area of the shell midsurface
and through the thickness t. Thus the stiness can be written as
Z 1 Z 1 Z 1
K e

B
T D
B
j J j df dn dg
3
1

1

1

where jJj is the determinant of the Jacobian matrix for layer j. The matrix D
is the material transformed
stiness matrix which can be expressed as D
T
1 D
T
. Here [T] and [D] are the transformation and
material stiness with respect to the local coordinates matrices. Dierent elements of the [D] matrix can
be written as
3
2
D1 D12
0
0
0
7
6
0
0
0 7
6 D12 D2
7
6
D
6
0 G12
0
0 7
7
6 0
7
6
0
0 KG12
0 5
4 0
0
0
0
0
KG12
where D1 = E1/D, D2 = E2/D, D12 = E2v12/D, D = 1  v12v21. K is shear correction factor. Element consistent mass matrix at layer j linking nodes i and j can be written as
Z 1 Z 1 Z 1
M e

N i
qN j
df dn dg
4
1

1

1

The free vibration of an undamped system results into an eigenvalue problem. The generalized eigenvalue
problem can be expressed as
K
 x2 M

fX g f0g

where [K], [M] and {X} are the global stiness, mass and displacement matrices which are generated
through the assembly of elements local matrices; x is the undamped natural frequency.

3. Results and discussion

In this study, simply supported shafts of L/R and t/R ratios equal to 20 and 0.08 made of metals (steel
and aluminum), composites (CFRP and GFRP) with materials properties as given in Table 1, are considered. Shell nite element modeling (Gubran and Gupta, 2002a) with a grid of 6 4 elements, as shown in
Fig. 1 (i.e., 6 elements along the circumferential direction and 4 elements along the shaft axial length) is
used. Dynamic performance, deection and cross-section deformation for dierent shafts are investigated.

Table 1
Material properties used for hybrid shafts
Material property

Steel

Aluminum

CFRP

GFRP

E1 (Gpa)
E2 (Gpa)
G12 (Gpa)
v12
q (kg/m3)

210
210
84
0.30
7830

70
70
28
0.28
2600

130
10
7
0.25
1500

40.30
6.20
3.00
0.20
1900

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371

3.1. Natural frequency analysis

The natural frequency for a shaft depends mainly on E1/q ratio; this ratio is almost the same for shafts
made of steel or aluminum. This makes the dynamic performance of shafts made of steel or aluminum (as
shown in Fig. 2) almost the same. However, E1/q ratio for composites varies with the orientations of bres,
it is maximum at 0 and decreases as the bre angle shifts towards 90. Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 2, the
natural frequencies of shafts made of composites (CFRP or GFRP) varies with bre angle, having maximum value at 0 and decreases as the bre angle shifts towards 90. Comparing the dynamic performance
of shafts made of composites (CFRP or GFRP) and metallic (steel or aluminum) it is observed that, the
natural frequency of CFRP shaft with bres oriented at 3738 is almost the same as that of steel and aluminum shafts. However due to low E1/q ratio, the natural frequencies of shafts made of GFRP with bres
oriented at dierent angles are lower than that made of metals. The performance of shafts made by hybridization of metals and composites are studied. In general, the main objectives of hybridization of metals and
composites are: (i) to have proper dynamic performance (for example, optimal placement of natural frequency with respect to shaft operating speed, (ii) cost eectiveness and (iii) easier mounting of metallic components (like gears, pulleys or mounting the shaft on bearings). The main emphasis here is to study dynamic
performance and cross-section deformation of hybrid shafts. The hybrid shafts considered are made by
placing metallic layers (i.e., steel or aluminum) at the outer and inner surfaces and composite layers (i.e.,
CFRP or GFRP) at the middle surface. Referring to the results presented in Fig. 2, the natural frequency
of steel shaft has been increased by about 25% to 5% by hybridization with CFRP with bres oriented at
angles 036, respectively. Similarly, the natural frequency of aluminum shaft has been increased by about
40% to 7% by hybridization with CFRP with bres oriented at angles in the same range as that of steel.
Depending on E1/q ratio, the natural frequencies of GFRP have been increased by about 20% and 16%
at 0 bre angle and 150% and 106% at 90 bre angle by hybridization with steel and aluminum, respectively. The above results can be explained mainly by dependence of the natural frequencies of hybrid shafts
on E1/q ratios for metallic part, which is constant and composite part which varies with bre orientation.

500
CFRP

Aluminum
Steel

(Hybrid)

Frequency, Hz

400

CFRP
GFRP

300

Steel

Aluminum

200
GFRP
100
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Fibre angle, Degrees

Fig. 2. Natural frequencies of shafts made of dierent materials.

80

90

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H.B.H. Gubran / Mechanics Research Communications 32 (2005) 368374

In-plane displacement, mm

2.5
2.0

CFRP (0)4

(a)

CFRP (90)4
GFRP (0)4

1.5
1.0

GFRP (90)4
Steel
AL

0.5
0.0
12

24

36

48

60

72

84

96

108

In-plane displacement, mm

0.4
(b)

(St/CFRP,0)s
0.3

(St/GFRP,0)s
(AL/CFRP,0)s

0.2

(AL/GFRP,0)s

0.1

0.0

12

24

36

48

60

72

84

96

108

In-plane displacement, mm

0.6
(St/CFRP,90)s
0.5
0.4

(c)

(St/GFRP,90)s
(AL/CFRP,90)s
(AL/GFRP,90)s

0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
12

24

36

48

60

72

84

96

108

Node number
Fig. 3. Deection and cross-section deformation (a) shafts made of single material (b) hybrid shafts with 0 bre angle and (c) hybrid
shafts with 90 bre angle.

This also gives an explanation for at curves (almost constant natural frequencies) for hybrid shafts made
of metals and composites with bre angles greater than 50 having lower E1/q ratios.

H.B.H. Gubran / Mechanics Research Communications 32 (2005) 368374

(a)

(b)

(c)
0.06

0.06

0.06

0.03

0.03

0.03

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.00

-0.03

1.00

-0.03

0.50
0.03

0.00

0.25
-0.03
-0.06

1.00

-0.03

0.75

0.75

0.75
-0.06

373

0.50

-0.06
0.03

0.25
0.00

0.00

-0.03
-0.06

Un-deformed

0.00

0.50

-0.06
0.03

0.00

0.25
-0.03
-0.06

0.00

Deformed

Fig. 4. Cross-section deformation (a) GFRP with 0 bre angle, (b) GFRP with 0 bre angle hybrid with aluminum and (c) GFRP
with 0 bre angle hybrid with steel.

3.2. Deection and cross-section deformation

Shafts considered earlier for natural frequency analysis are subjected to point static load of 1 kN at midspan. Referring to Fig. 1, with shell nite element modeling, the shaft is divided to 12 sections along the
axial length. Each section contains 12 nodes along the circumferential direction. Variation in the displacements of dierent nodes located at the same section along the shaft length, represents the distortion of the
cross-section and hence deformation of the cross-section. Gubran and Gupta (2002a) have studied theoretically and experimentally, the deformation of 45 CFRP shaft. They have observed the dependence of
deection and cross-section deformation on the longitudinal and circumferential modulii of the shaft. This
study analyzes the deection and cross-section deformation of shafts made of CFRP and GFRP. Further,
the possibility of reducing both of shaft deection and cross-section deformation by hybridization of composites (i.e., CFRP or GFRP) and metals (i.e., steel or aluminum) has been attempted. Results presented in
(Figs. 3ac) show the deection and cross-section deformation for shafts made of dierent materials. It is
observed that (Fig. 3a) shafts made of GFRP with 0 and 90 bre orientation have maximum cross-section
deformation and deection, respectively. This is expected due to low circumferential and longitudinal
modulii compared to that of CFRP and metals. Deection and cross-section deformation of shafts made
of metals are minimum. A drastic reduction in shaft deection and cross-section deformation are obtained
for shafts made by hybridization of GFRP or CFRP with metals. These are clearly observed in Fig. 3b for
bres oriented at 0 and (Fig. 3c) for bres oriented at 90. Taking the case of GFRP with bres oriented at
0 hybrid with steel and aluminum, it can be observed, (Fig. 3b) and pictorial views shown in Fig. 4ac, a
signicant reduction in the shaft cross-section deformation is obtained. The identical deection and crosssection deformation for hybrid shafts made from CFRP or GFRP with bres oriented at 90 and steel, (Fig.
3c), can be explained by the fact that, for bres oriented at 90 the longitudinal modulus is very low for
both of CFRP and GFRP compared to that of steel. This makes shafts deections much dependent on
the contribution of the steel part.

4. Conclusions
The dynamic performance, deection and cross-section deformation of shafts made of metals (i.e., steel
and aluminum), composites (i.e., CFRP and GFRP) and hybrids of metals and composites have been stud-

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H.B.H. Gubran / Mechanics Research Communications 32 (2005) 368374

ied. Possibilities of improvement in both of dynamic performance, deection and cross-section deformation
by hybridization of metals and composites have been investigated. Followings are the main conclusions:
1. Depending on E1/q ratio for metals and bre angle for composites, the natural frequencies of hybrid
shafts can be optimally placed.
2. Deection and cross-section deformation are reduced by employing hybrid shafts made of metals and
composites.
3. Assembling of metallic components (such as, bearings, gears, pulleys, etc.) can be made easier for hybrid
shafts.

References
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Journal of Vehicle Design 11 (6), 553563.
Gubran, H.B.H., Gupta, K., 2002a. Cross-section deformation of tubular composite shafts subjected to static loading conditions.
Mechanics Research Communications 29, 367374.
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