High-Cycle Fatigue of Shafts due to Starting Transients in Drive Systems

Abstract

This paper investigates some of the effects that structural characteristics and main non-linearities of a drive system have on systems response and its shaft fatigue.In the suggested approach a general drive system, including a motor, load and speed reducers, is modelled as a multi-degree-of-freedom torsional vibrations non-linear system. The differential equations of the system are formed automatically. The user of the developed program must input just the constants of the components. An algorithm to compute the loss of life of the shafts due to fatigue is also incorporated into the program.As an example, a drive system, including a motor, a speed reducer and load is modelled and tested under starting conditions. The effects of changing spring constants of the shafts and the backlash of the speed reducer are investigated.