Software For Finite Element Analysis And Optimization Of Stepped Shaft Development

Stepped shaft is an important component of machinery. The structural parameter and the level of fabricating technique heavily affect not only the size and weight of the entire machinery, but also the reliability and life-span of machinery. Therefore the design and calculation of stepped shaft is an absolutely necessary component of machine design. In the past, engineers often design the stepped shaft based on the traditional machine design theories. Usually this leads to the inaccuracy and inefficiency for the stepped shaft design. With the increasingly perfecting of the modern finite element technology, the simulation and optimization for stepped shaft can be carried out quickly and accurately with high accuracy.Based on APDL of the commercial finite element analysis software ANSYS and the object-oriented programming language Visual C++,this paper develops stepped shaft of the parameterized finite element analysis system for the common engineers who are not familiar with the finite element analysis and optimization methods.There are four major parts of this system: the user interface module, ANSYS analysis module, Visual C++ interface part and the post processor module. Using dialogue box programming of Visual C++ makes user interface, using APDL realizes the ANSYS parameterized finite element analysis process. Then Visual C++ code calls the APDL order: writing APDL order to appointed text file,then run ANSYS through batch file to call APDL order and realize the finite element analysis. When solving is finished, user can check and deal with the results through the post processor part. To improve the performance of the product and retrenching the cost, the optimization of stepped shaft can be realized in the developed software. The optimum structure of this stepped shaft is obtained based on Parameterizing the stepped shaft model using APDL and adopting the design optimization tool in ANSYS, which will make the designed stepped shaft with better torsional fatigue strength. Finally, the system is used for the analysis of the six bands stepped shaft. The finite element analysis results agree well with the values of theoretical analysis. It shows the feasibility and the credibility of the system.The developed software realizes the automation and intelligence of stepped shaft modeling and analysis. The software also reduces greatly the workload of stepped shaft modeling and analysis. At the same time, it improves the efficiency of research and development of new products. In particular, the accuracy has been greatly improved. It will provide convenient and practical software systems for the common engineers designing important stepped shaft.