Week 8 - Universal Joint

Universal Joint

Objective:

To perform a transient structural analysis on a double universal joint with a spring using three different materials: Structural Steel, Stainless Steel, and Titanium alloy(They can all be found in the General Materials section) The three materials must be used on the joint with the springs alone. Use a refined mesh if possible for the academic license. You need to obtain the Equivalent stress and total deformation for all three cases and compare them. Submit a report regarding the same.

Geometry file:

Material properties:

Case 1 Structural Steel

Case 2 Stainless Steel

Case 3 Titanium Alloy

Analysis Settings:

The number of steps used in the simulation is 5, Solver type to be Program controlled.

Weak springs: Program controlled, Large deflections: ON.

Auto time stepping to be off, time integration to be on.

Output controls: Stress, strain, contact Data, Nodal forces, Volume and Energy, Euler angles, contact miscellaneous general miscellaneous to be Yes.

Simulation Results:

Comparison Table:

Material	Maximum
	Total Deformation	Equivalent stress	Equivalent strain
Structural Steel	38.637 mm	1495.6 MPa	7.601e-003 mm
Stainless steel	38.637 mm	1448.1 MPa	7.6253e-003 mm
Titanium Alloy	38.637 mm	733.84 MPa	7.7622e-003 mm

Conclusion:

• From the above results, we can observe that the structural steel gives higher stress than stainless steel and Titanium Alloy.
• As we know Titanium Alloy has a density of nearly half of that of structural steel so it is light weight compared to structural steel and stainless steel and so it is more flexible.
• Also, the tensile yield strength and Tensile ultimate strength of titanium alloy are the highest among all materials. So it has a more elastic region and can regain the original shape easily and also can withstand higher loads.
• So from the results and observation, we can conclude that the titanium alloy is a very safe and effective material that can give high performance and the mechanism of the double universal joint, will be safe and can work longer.
• Thus the alloy of the titanium material can give the best results for the universal joint and it is the best-suited material.