ABSTRACT
Composite materials driveshafts are increasingly becoming the engineers’ choice for a large number of high performance and heavy duty power transmission applications, due to their light weight and high strength. Especially for the marine sector, composite driveshafts also offer the advantages of high fatigue and corrosion resistance. In the context of the present work, filament wound composite materials shafts are subjected to static torsional tests, in order to assess their torsional stiffness, failure load and failure mode. The experimental results are compared to the numerical results of finite element models developed at the Shipbuilding Technology Laboratory for the simulation of the mechanical behavior of the composite shafts. The comparison between experimental and numerical results supported the calibration and validation of the finite element models, which constitute the basis for the development of the digital twins of composite materials driveshafts.
