Week 8 - Universal Joint

Aim : To perform a transient structural analysis on a double universal joint with a spring using three different materials.

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. 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 the three cases and compare them.

Procedure :

• Open the Ansys Workbench.
• Insert the Transient Strucural window.
• Import the geometry.

• Open the Ansys Mechanical Module.

Model Setup :

• Go to geometry rename components as follows;

• Assign material to spring i.e Shaft 1 as structural steel
• Change material for case 2 and case 3.

Contacts :

• Delete all default contacts.

Joints :

• Insert fixed joint body-ground for spring.

• Revolute joint for shaft 1 and shaft 2

• Create body to body revolute joint for Pivot joints.

Meshing :

• Generate mesh of element size of 2 mm.

Analysis settings :

Joint load :

• Insert joint load rotation to revolute joint of Shaft 2.

Solution :

Create output results for :

• Total deformation for model.
• Equivalent stress for Model.
• Equivalent strain for Model.

Results :

Case 1 : Spring material as Structural Steel.

Total deformation :

Equivalent stress :

Equivalent strain :

Case 2 : Spring material as Stainless Steel.

Total deformation :

Equivalent stress :

Equivalent strain :

Case 3 : Spring material as Titanium Alloy.

Total deformation :

Equivalent stress :

Equivalent strain :

Comparison of Results :

Sr. No.	Results	Case 1	Case 2	Case 3
1	Total deformation (mm)	38.637	38.637	38.637
2	Maximum Equivalent stress (MPa)	1410.3	1366	692.8
3	Minimum Equivalent stress (MPa)	4.6679 E-09	4.7141 E-09	4.8282 E-09
4	Maximum Equivalent strain	0.007052	0.007079	0.007218
5	Minimum Equivalent strain	2.3339 E-14	2.3570 E-14	2.4141 E-14

Conclusion:

• From results there is significant drop of stress in the Case 3 (Titamium alloy).
• For the all 3 cases the total deformation value stays uniform.
• Case 1 (Structural Steel) has maximum stress and strain values.