Development of analysis tools for spline couplings

Abstract

Improved shaft spline design methods are required to meet the needs of new civil aero engine designs that have higher bypass ratios and reduced core sizes. The paper describes the development of new analytical techniques to predict the contact stresses and load transfer mechanisms in spline couplings. Applications are presented and comparisons made with experimental data. The availability of prediction from the computational models for proposed transmission joint designs will allow the exploitation of fretting and wear experimental data to predict durability.