Design of shafts for general engineering applications.

In this work a design procedure for determining ofshaft sizes is outlined. The design procedure is a summaryand a result of a literature search with the aim ofassisting an engineer, practicing in general engineering.The author does not postulate any theoretical conceptsand does not contribute any new experimental data. However,in setting out the design procedure, the areas lacking suchdata are highlighted, so that the future research will makethe procedure more complete and useful.This work is limited to the shafts encountered ingeneral industrial engineering and excludes such fields asaircraft, automotive, thermal and highly corrosiveenvironments.The design procedure consists of the following threebasic stages:1. Preliminary Design2. Geometric Design3. Verification.THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN enables the designer of a newmachine to predict the size of a shaft, having knowledge ofthe load conditions and only a conceptual sketch of theshaft and the components associated with the shaft.THE GEOMETRIC DESIGN is actually a detailed layout ofthe shaft and its components. During this stage the shaftis shaped to satisfy the requirements of other components.At this stage the stress risers are introduced, however thenumber of these stress risers can be reduced by consideringthe alternative solutions suggested in this work.IN THE VERIFICATION STAGE the shaft suitability forthe load conditions is assessed by the value of the RESERVEOF STRENGTH (OR FACTOR OF SAFETY) designed into the shaft.It is suggested that the statutory bodies and theStandards Associations draw up a comprehensive list of thereserve of strength values for the various industrial shaftapplications, so that the shafts may be designed withgreater economy and confidence.An example of shaft calculations illustrating theproposed design procedure is included