ABSTRACT
Drive shafts for pumps and motors, propeller shafts for motor vehicles and aircraft as well as pulley assemblies and drive couplings for machinery, are all subject to torsion or twisting loads. These torsion loads set up shear stresses within the shafts. Shafts are the engineering components that are used to transmit torsional loads and twisting moments or torque. The power transmitted by shafts is an important topic, especially when considering motor vehicle drive shafts and the power needed by rotating machines when subject to torque loads. In certain composite drive shafts, due to the physical coupling of components, the complete shaft, although made from the same material, may be made up from two or more shafts of varying diameter along its length, or it may differ geometrically in some other way.
