Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION
An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel. The wheel may be fixed to the axle, with
bearing or bushing provided at the mounting points where the axle is supported. The
axles maintain the position of the wheels relative to each other and to the vehicle body.
Critical parts of rear axle are pipe, leaf spring, Flexible hose, bracket trailing arms. This
work deals with the designing of rear axle and finite element modeling for static analysis.
Jin Yi-Min [2000], implemented finite element methods to analyze and evaluate minivan
body structure. The analysis included static, optimization and design sensitivity analysis.
The solid model of the structure was developed in CREO and analysis is done using
ANSYS. To achieve a quality vehicle, i.e. one having longer fatigue life, reduced weight,
reduced cost, and so on, it becomes necessary to use materials of appropriate strength and
stiffness property with the most appropriate geometry(form).

As can be seen, all the research on static, fatigue, optimization analysis of

vehicles and their different components. In this work, CAD model for rear axle is made
in CERO elements software and the static analysis of rear axle with the help of CAE
software (mesh) is performed. Mostly these forces are applied in the rear axle are
Weight of the body
Driving Thrust
Torque reaction
Side Thrust
The weight of the body of the automobile and load due to the occupant is
transmitted through springs to the axle casing. Rear axle is housing support parts of rear
axle shaft, gear assembly. It also acts as a tank for rear end lubricants. It also supported
the stationary parts of the rear brake assemblies. It is generally made of steel.
There are two types of rear axle housing are single piece type and split piece. The
split piece of housing will be used in heavy vehicles like truck.
 Fig. 1.1 REAR AXLE OF TRUCK

1.2 Classification of Rear Axle:

Rear axle classified by two methods.
1.2.1 According to the method of supporting:
Full floating axle
Semi floating axle
Three quarter floating axle

1.2.1.1 Full Floating Axle:

The weight of the axle is supported by the axle housing-more specifically, bearing
spindle attached to the axle housing, and a set of bearings in a separate wheel hub.
Torque is transmitted by a separate axle shaft that carries no load.
As commonly built, full-floaters are considerably heavier, stronger.
They are designed separately depending on all load carrying capacity and the torque
delivery.
It axles are seen almost higher GVW rated trucks (generally ton and up).If an axle
shaft breaks, they can be easily replaced.
 Fig.1.2 Full Floating Axle

1.2.1.2 Semi-floating axle:

A Semi-floating axle is very common on the rear of 4x4s.
It consist of an axle shaft on each side i.e. spindled on the inner end where it mates to the
differential and has a wheel flange where the wheel studs mount at the other end.
With a semi floating axle, the axle shaft both carries the weight and transmits torque.
The wheel is often bolted directly to flanges on the axle.
Semi floats axles are seen on cars and light duty trucks.
Semi floats are more limited in capacity, but lighter and cheaper to manufacture.
The axle shafts both carries the weight and applied drive torque to the wheel.
It axles are seen on cars and light duty trucks.
The semi floating design is found under ton and lighter trucks and SUVs and rear-
wheel-drive passenger cars.
 Fig.1.3 Semi Floating Axle

1.2.1.3 Three Quarter Floating Axle:

This type of axle is a combination of full and semi floating bearing.
In this bearing is locating between the axle casing and hub axle shaft do not have to
withstand any shearing or bending action due to the weight of the vehicle, which are
taken up by the axle casing through hub .
It has to take the end loads and driving torque.
A three quarter floating axle is same as semi floating with one difference.
The outer bearing is moved to the outside of the outer end of the axle tube, supporting
hub assembly via the bearing's circumference edge.
In this type of axle is the major part of the load is taken by the axle casing and not by
the axle.
 Fig.1.4 Three Quarter Floating Axle

1.2.2 According to the design of axle:

1.2.2.1 Single Type Axle:
This type of axle is a single shaft and final drive assembly is carried in a separate casing
which is bolted to the axle housing. The banjo construction is often used for smaller and
light vehicle.

1.2.2.2 Spilt Axle:

In this type of axle are used with the central housing contain the differential gear and it is
fitted with tube on each side to carry the half axles and casing.

Rear axle operation is generally a set of four gears. Two are called differential side gears
and the other two are differential pinion gears. Each side gear is spline to an axle shafts,
therefore each axle shaft must turn when its side gear rotates.
The differential pinion gears are mounted on a differential pinion shafts, and gears are free
to rotate on this shaft. The pinion shaft is fitted into a bore in the differential case.
Power flow through the differential is as follow: the drive pinion rotates the ring gear. The
differential pinion, as it rotates with the force the pinion gears against the side gears.
When both wheels have equal traction, the pinion gears do not rotate on the pinion shaft
because the input force on the gear is equally divided between the two side gears.
If a vehicle were always driven in a straight line, the ring and pinion gears would
be solidly attached to the ring gear and driving wheels would turn at equal speed.
The rear axle is performs following two functions- it carries the weight of the vehicle, it
rotates and transmits the power from the engine to the wheels. Rear axle is the last
member of power train. In most of automobiles, real axle is the driving axle. It lies
between the driving wheels and the differential gear and transmit power from the driving
wheels. It consists of the two half shaft connected to the differential gear.

Fig. 1.5 Rear Axle

In case of a rear wheel drive vehicle, rear axle also allows the differential casing together.
The two ends of the rear axle are fitted into the wheel hubs of the two rear wheels. The
rear axle could also be a solid axle as found in tractors. Rear axle is generally made of cast
iron and load is applied in rear and front axles of the truck. Rear axle is design in the
CERO software with dimension and it is analysis in the ANSYS software and investigates
the bending effect on the axle.
 Chapter II

LITERATURE REVIEW

MENG QINGHUA et al [1]: Proposed for fatigue failure of truck rear axle excited by the
different load from uneven road profile. During operation load of the truck acts on the axle
in vertical direction causes severe impact on the fatigue life of the axle. By using different
load distribution the fatigue life of the truck is analyzed and design optimization is
proposed to increase the fatigue life of the components and location of fatigue.

SANJAY ALONI et al [2]: demonstrated the comparative study on the tractor trolley axle
by using FEA method. The Fatigue behavior of the existing axle is analyzed found that
failing before the expected life of the axle. Further design & optimization the fatigue life
analysis life and to reduce the weight of the rear axle by using finite elements method.

G.RAJESH BABU et al [3]: proposed on static and model analysis of rear axle housing
of a truck carried out the static and dynamic analysis of spilt type rear axle housing by
using FEA method for two different materials like cast iron and mild steel. The induced
deformation in cast iron housing is greater than mild steel housing and natural
frequencies of the cast iron is cheap than the mild steel. Also the stress induced in the
cast iron is lower than the mild steel and the cast iron is preferred for production of rear
axle housing.

SHINYA ISIDA et al [4]: proposed a rear axle fixed to this suspension system takes
vertical load and axial load of very complicated stress. Stress is created on the fixed area,
resulting in fatigue. This paper deals with the optimum design of the rear axle case using
the 3-factor and 3-level structure analysis of the finite element method based on the
comparison of experimental results with stress values obtained by the finite element
method. It is usually adopted for a heavy-duty truck.
QIANG ZHANG, JIAN MINXVE [5]: Proposed the static strength and dynamic
characteristics of rear axle are analyzed in the five typical load case. It aiming the
breakage of rear axle in small dump truck, a 3d solid finite element model including
nonlinear suspension has been created by ANSYS software.
According to the analytical results, the weak locations of rear axle are obtained and
modified design has been determined.

CHUNGUO XU el al [6]: explained the rear axle with integrated structure has become
the developing trend for the reducing vehicle weight and increasing load capacity. The
forming process of the integer rear axle on numerical simulation and highly efficient
forming process. Based on the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, the forming
process of rear axle was studied and experiment was done and rear axle is obtained. It
could be used to produce rear axle rapidly and less energy consumption.
 Chapter III

Modeling and Analysis

There are different types of softwares that are used for modeling 2D or 3D models. Some of
softwares generally used are such as CREO, CAD, SOLID WORKS and CATIA. The tools
present in these softwares helps us in designing the model. These are very useful to get accurate
results during analysis. This softwares are mainly known for their versatility and functionality.

3.1 PTC CREO PARAMETRIC

PTC CREO parametric is a family of design software used for product design by many product
manufactures. It is a 3d modeling software which runs on windows and provides applications for
schematic illustrations, element analysis, technical design and development. This gives the user a
whole new dimension of capabilities for design and analysis CREO softwares. CERO has many
different software package and features. It is mostly used in these days.

PTC started creating CERO in the year 2008 and announced it using the code name Project
Lightning at Planet PTC Live, in Las Vegas, in June 2010. In October 2010, PTC unveiled the
product name for Project Lightning to be CERO. PTC released Cero 1.0 in June 2011. CERO
applications are available in many languages, all from European, Asian etc. It is a part of product
development software developed by PTC and was intended for engineering calculations. With
CERO you who produce innovation and not the software itself, it just gives you all the power
and tools that you need. In CERO there are many different types of tools function are available
for doing different types of models. After selecting the plane the first interface of cero is shown
in fig.3.1
 Fig. 3.1 PTC Cero 3.0 interface

3.2 STEPS INVOLVED IN CREATING A MODEL

3.2.1 BASIC OUTLINE SKETCH OF REAR AXLE

The Modeling part of the rear axle was done in PTC Cero Parametric 3.0
software. The points at which the centre part of rear axle are located by using the
datum axis. Draw a semi circle at the centre with dimension as mentioned in the
table below.

Parameter Dimension (mm)

Total length of axle
Inner diameter of differential
Outer diameter of differential
Thickness of shell
Length of plate
Table 3.1 Axle dimensions
 After the draw the semi circle and extrude at specific length and form a hollow
sphere
Using the plane we can extrude the outer side circular pipe with specific
dimension.
Symmetry of the geometry can be obtained by using Mirror tool in editing
options. Firstly the required pipe is selected. Then click on mirror tool followed
by selecting the reference centre line of the axle as shown in fig 3.2