Abhishek Ghosh

Lakshmi Gayathri
Neeharika Kushwaha
WHAT DOES THE AXLE DO??

The axle is a hollow non-rotating shaft like structure which
houses a rotating shaft within it. It supports the weight of
the truck over the rotating wheel shaft, thus allowing a
rotational motion relative to the truck .

It is an important component of any vehicle
moving on wheels. Motion as we see in our daily lives is
impossible without axles.



Let’s have a look on a truck rear axle:
The weight of the truck is supported by the leaf springs. The leaf
springs transfer this force to the axle of the truck; in addition they
also act as suspensions.
The reaction force of the axle is transmitted via bearings to the
rotating shaft, which in turn transmits the net force due to the
weight of the truck to the wheels.
The forces which we have taken into consideration in our model:
Force due to truck’s weight on the axle and the reaction forces
acting via the bearings.
frictional torsion transmitted via the bearings to the axle.
Other forces that act on the axle include:

>>variation in forces via leaf springs due to motion on uneven roads.

>>forces acting during the acceleration of the truck.
The major forces acting on the truck rear axle are the reaction forces
due to the weight of the truck. These forces lead to the bending of the
axle body, thus producing tensile stress throughout the hollow structure
of the axle.
The situation can be modeled as a twin load problem:




The only difference being, the changes in the I (second moment of
inertia about the neutral axis) values due to changing cross sections
throughout the length of the axle .
But the moment distribution would remain the same as in the twin load
version.
There would also be additional stress concentrations at sudden
diametrical changes.
Inside the circular region ,there is a gear assembly which
converts the rotational axis by a full 90 degrees. The special
design of the gears makes it possible. The whole region is
supplied with special oil to keep it cool and smooth as shown in
the figure.
The right shaft is coming from the engine and rotating
the shaft within the axle.