STRESSES AT END-MILLED KEYWAYS IN

PLAIN SHAFTS SUBJECTED TO TENSION,

BENDING, AND TORSION

H. FESSLER Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nottingham

C . C . ROGERS Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nottingham
P. STANLEY Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nottingham

The frozen-stress photoelastic technique has been used to determine the complete surface stress field in
empty keyways of British Standard proportions for rectangular keys. A method is included for the photo-
elastic analysis of general surface stresses in doubly curved surfaces with one small radius. The ratio of
measured stress to stress in the same fibre in a shaft without keyway is the same for bending and tension.
Stress indices for combined bending and torsion have been calculated for one fillet-radius ratio. A simple
method is presented for obtaining a close upper bound for the peak stress in any B.S. keyway for rectangular
keys subjected to any combination of bending and torsion.

INTRODUCTION P Direct load.

As PART OF A STUDY of the interaction of the stress-con-
centrating effects of a radiused shoulder in a shaft and an
adjacent keyway, a detailed stress analysis has been carried
out of a series of plain solid shafts containing keyways and
loaded in direct tension or compression, bending (with the
keyway in the plane of bending) or torsion.
Empty keyways only were tested and all loads were
applied at a distance from the keyway ends. The width,
depth, and range of fillet radii were based on B.S.
proportions for rectangular keys. It proved necessary for
economic and practical reasons to test models of different
diameters varying from 3 to 12 in.
The frozen-stress photoelastic method has been used
throughout and the analyses have included the determina-
tion of surface stresses in both the prismatic section and
the keyway end. The position of the maximum stress for
direct loading did not coincide with that for torsion. In
order therefore to determine the magnitude and position
of the maximum stress under combined tension and tor-
sion the entire stress field at the end of a typical keyway
has been determined for the separate loadings and the
stresses for different combined loadings have been ob-
tained by tensorial combination.
Notation (see Fig. 1)
b Keyway width.
C Correction factor for the principal stress difference
gradient.
d Shaft diameter.
F Material fringe value.
Z Stress index. (See Results and Appendix 2.)
k Keyway depth.
M Bending moment.
n Fringe reading.
The M S . of this paper was received at the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers on 16th September 1968 and accepted for publication on
29th January 1969. 22
r Fillet radius in keyway.
T Torque.
t Slice thickness.
x,y Local co-ordinates in fillet (Fig. 1).
a Angular co-ordinate around keyway end measured
from plane of symmetry.
y Principal stress direction relative to keyway end
generator.
B Angular co-ordinate about shaft axis measured from
plane of symmetry.
u Normal stress.
u1,u2 Principal stresses (ul > u2).
T Shear stress.
4 Angular position in fillet.
Principal slice-A slice which contains a principal plane
of the stress system.
REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK
As far as can be ascertained, there has been no ear!ier
detailed study of the stress distribution at keyway ends.
With one exception, all previous work has been concerned
with the stress analysis of the prismatic section of the
keyway. Some of these earlier investigations are relevant
to the present study and they are summarized here,
together with some reports on the testing of components.
Using St Venant’s torsion theory, Filon (I)* obtained an
approximate theoretical solution for a shaft in torsion
containing one or two keyways in the form of hyperbolic
notches. With a similar approach Gronwall(2) and Shep-
herd (3) have studied further notch-like keyways and
Okubo (4) has investigated the practically important
rectangular-sectioned keyway. Griffiths and Taylor ( 5 ) (6)
used the soap-film technique for evaluating the St Venant
stress function for a hollow shaft with a rectangular-
sectioned keyway and Leven (7) used a numerical method
* References are given in Appendix 3.

180 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 4 NO 3 1969

 STRESSES A T END-MILLED KEYWAYS IN PLAIN SHAFTS SUBJECTED T O TENSION, BENDING AND TORSION
for a series of rectangular-sectioned keyways in solid
shafts.
Leven compared his numerical work with photoelastic-
model studies in which he used a scattered-light technique
and the 'surface shell' method. His attempts to carry out a
complete stress separation in the keyway fillet were not
entirely satisfactory, but he was able to conclude for
torsion that:
the maximum shear stress in the prismatic part of the
keyway occurred in the keyway fillet;
the maximum tensile stress on the cylindrical surface
of the shaft occurred at the ends of the keyway and was
independent of the size of the fillet radius;
the maximum tensile stress in the keyway fillet
exceeded that at the top of the wall when r/d was less
than 0.009.
Nisida and Hondo (8) employed their photoelastic-
wedge method (9) in the evaluation of shear stresses in the
prismatic section of a number of keyways. (The method is
attractive for the torsion of prismatic sections since it
offers a direct solution, by analogy, for the St Venant
function.)
The results of Okubo (4), Leven (7), and Nisida and
Hondo (8) are summarized in Fig. 7.
Moore (IO), Gough (11); and Peterson (12) have
investigated prototype shafts with keyways under a variety
of loading conditions and Peterson concluded that 'the
keyway end is often an important factor in determining
failure' and that 'the side-milled keyway was preferable
to the end-milled type from the standpoint of fatigue'.
Timoshenko (13) used the brittle-coating method to
investigate the cause of a fatigue crack at the end of a
keyway in a motor-generator shaft. On the basis of com-
parative tests, he concluded that the failure was due to
J O U R N A L OF S T R A I N A N A L Y S I S VOL 4 NO
Fig. 1. Geometry, slices, and notation
Table 1. Standard proportions
I Fillet ratio
I Diameter
(Ref.)
I
B.S.(IS) 0.25
ASA (16) 0.25
DIN (17) 0.2pO.29
~ 0.125 I
rld'
0~078-0*100 0*007-0.021 1.0 -20.0
- 0.5 6.0
~
0.056-0.125 0.007-0.018 0.47- 5.9
range, in
d is the maximum value of d in any one of the small ranges of
shaft diameter over which a particular keyway dimension is con-
stant.
excessive bending stresses, probably caused by bearing
misalignment. Dorey (14)has tested two large shouldered
shafts with keyways in torsional fatigue. At failure,
cracking developed from the keyway end in a 45" helical
path.
M O D E L DESIGN
The specifications from the most important standards for
plain shafts containing rectangular-sectioned keyways are
summarized in Table 1.
It was clearly preferable that the range of model
dimensions should relate as closely as possible to standard
recommendations, but practical considerations place fairly
definite upper and lower limits on model size, particularly
on the keyway-fillet detail. Detailed stress analyses could
not be considered for fillet radii of less than in and,
since the maximum fillet radius/shaft diameter ratio
permitted by the British Standard is 0.0208, the minimum
model diameter was 3 in. Limited analyses were carried
out on 6-inch-diameter models with & i n and & i n
keyway-fillet radii (r/d = 0.0104 and 0.0052 respectively)
in both direct loading and torsion.
+
A 12-inch-diameter model with a in keyway fillet
was tested in direct loading because it was thought initially
3 1969 181
 H. FESSLER, C. C. ROGERS AND P. STANLEY

Table 2. Details of models line of the shaft which ensured that a pure tensile load was

Model Loading I
I.
Fillet
ratio
Dimensions, inches
applied, The direct loading on the 6 and 12-inch-diameter
models was compressive, The ends were machined flat
and the models were fitted inside a cylindrical contaicing

1 1 Shaft
length
vessel so that the lower face was supported on the vessel
base and the necessary pressure loading of 26 lbf/in2 could
be applied to the upper face from a compressed air supply.
D/.0208 Tension D 0.0208 -1- 3 15
D*/.0208
D*/.0104
Compression D*
Compression D*
0.0208
0,0104
'1
I
12
6
14
14
A U-sectioned annular ring of silicone rubber provided
the necessary seal at the edges of the upper face of the
D*/.0052 Compression D* 0.0052 __
'P 6 14 model. Glycerine immersion of the 12-inch-diameter
B/.0208
T/*0208
T/*0104
Bending
Torsion
Torsion
B
T
T
0.0208
0.0208
0.0104
3 6
-1
6
3 15
19
19
model ensured that self-weight stresses were cancelled.
The usual four-point loading system was used for
I
16
T/.0052 Torsion T 0.0052 I 19
32
6 bending, with the shaft axis horizontal. For torsion the
~ ~~~~

shafts were held vertically in a rig in such a way that one

The width and depth ratios were constant for all models at
b/d = 0.25 and kld = 0.083 respectively.
The models are referred to by a letter denoting the form of
loading followed by the fillet ratio r/d.
that such models would be required for the complete
determination of the surface stress distribution. The
method eventually adopted for the complete analysis
required only a in fillet radius and consequently a 6-inch-
diameter model was used satisfactorily for the torsion
test.
Each model shaft contained two diametrically opposite
keyways. It was found from the first model that two such
keyways did not interfere with each other and with this
arrangement the loading was facilitated since the centroid
locus coincided with the shaft centre line.
Keyway lengths were in all cases greater than the
minima recommended by the British Standard. The over-
all model lengths were chosen so that the keyway.ends
were well clear of the stress discontinuities at the ends of
the models. For the 3-inch-diameter models, there was at
least 3 in between the end attachments and the keyway
ends.
The models are detailed in Table 2. The keyway ends
of the 6 in and 12 in models were positioned at the centre
of the shaft length, the other end running out at the end
face of the model. The 6rst 6 in model T/-0208 was
analysed completely; the others were used for the study of
peak stresses only for smaller r/d ratios. Each incorporated
two different keyway-fillet radii. Keyways T/.0052 and
T/.0104 were on one shaft, D*/.0052 and D*/-0104 on
the other.
EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES
Blanks for shafts 3 inches in diameter were cast in
the Araldite C T 200/Hardener H T 901 formulation; the
Araldite C T 200/HT 907 formulation was used for the
6 and 12-inch-diameter shafts. The production of satis-
factory castings 123 inches in diameter is a difficult task
with serious control problems. The casting for model
D*/-0208 seemed satisfactory, but may have contained
minor material imperfections. A second casting 12+inches
in diameter and 28 in long, intended for a torsion model,
was unsuccessful.
The machining of models, cutting of slices, and
measurement of the slice thicknesses will be described in
a future paper dealing with stresses at keyway ends near
shoulders.
The 3 in shaft was loaded in tension by means of simple
end attachments, having universal joints on the centre
end was fixed whilst the other end was twisted about the
centre line by a couple applied through a dead-weight
pulley system. An additional axial tensile load was applied
to the shaft equal in magnitude to the weight of the model
acting on the end of the keyway, to ensure that the stresses
on the keyway end were due to the torsional load only.
I n all cases loads were chosen to give approximately
20 fringes per inch.in the prismatic part of the model.
The slices used for the complete stress analysis of the
keyway end were those defined by a generator of the
toroidal fillet and the cylindrical end wall. The slices are
characterized by a particular 01 value and are called here-
after 'constant a' slices. They did not in general contain
the principal planes and could not be satisfactorily
analysed by the 'oblique incidence' technique. The
method of analysis used required the 'through' viewing,
i.e. normal to the fillet surface, of a sub-slice milled from
the edge of each constant 01 slice. It was occasionally
necessary to thin down the sub-slice and take readings
for a number of different thicknesses. The method is
described in detail in Appendix 1.
The sub-slices were thinned on wet and dry emery
cloth. Slices from model D*/.0208 with a 0.25 in fillet
radius could be thinned by hand whilst those from TF0208
with a 0.125 in radius required the use of a simple holding
jig. Slices 0.030 in thick were cut from the ends of the
keyways in the 12-inch-diameter shaft at 6" intervals as
shown in Fig. 1;in the 6 and 3-inch-diameter models con-
stant CL slices 0.030 in thick were cut at 10" intervals on
alternate sides. A set of meridional slices was also cut
from one model at 30" intervals and further pieces were
cut as required for calibration specimens.
RESULTS
The most important geometrical features are:
the toroidal fillet;
the fillet in the prismatic section;
the top of the wall at the end.
These have been examined in direct loading, bending, and
torsion.
Stresses throughout are presented as 'stress indices',
i.e. as multiples of a convenient nominal stress. The
nominal stresses used for direct loading and torsional
loading were the uniform tensile stress and surface shear
stress respectively, which would occur in the shaft without
the keyway. (When this stress was defined for the direct
loading, the stresses due to the weight of the model were .
included where appropriate.) In bending, the nominal

182 JOURNAL OF S T R A I N A N A L Y S I S VOL 4 NO 3 1969

 STRESSES A T END-MILLED KEYWAYS I N PLAIN SHAFTS SUBJECTED TO TENSION, BENDING AND TORSION

stress is defined as the maximum bending stress in the

shaft without the keyway. In the combined-loading work
the nominal stress is defined as the maximum principal
stress in the solid shaft under the combined-load system.
The correctness of some of the model design features
was confirmed as early as possible in the investigation. For
example, it was shown for both direct and torsional loading
Symbol e that the shaft stresses in a meridional plane mid-way
zm2.5 between two opposite keyways were not affected by the
presence of the keyways. The variation of longitudinal-
v)
W
v) A 60' stress index with 0 for model D/.0208 is shown in Fig. 2.
2.0 9 0'
v) It was also shown that, for direct loading, the stress dis-
continuities at the keyway end in a 3-inch-diameter shaft
did not extend further than 1 in from the keyway end.
This suggested that the model keyway lengths were
adequate.

Direct loading
The results for the keyway end in the 3-inch-diameter
shaft (D/.0208) are given in Fig. 3a, b, c, and d where the
two principal stress indices in the fillet are plotted against
4 for 01 values of 0", 30", 60",and 90".The principal stress
directions y are shown in Fig. 3e; the stress indices at the
-I
AXIAL DISTANCE ALONG SHAFT- in
upper edge of the wall are shown in Fig. 3f,plotted against
01, where they are compared with the maximum fillet-stress
Fig. 2. Injluence of keyway on stresses around the shaft index in the corresponding 01 planes. It is seen that the
(direct loading) stress index reaches a maximum value of 2.75 on the 01 = 0

I
I

0 30 60 90
C 9

-0 30 60 90
a
0 30 60 90 f
b Q
a = 0". b n = 30'. c cc = 60'. d n = 90". e Directions. f Maximum values.
3 Fillet of model D/.0208.
7 Fillet of D*/.0208.
Top of wall D/.0208.
Fig. 3. Stress indices and directions in the keyway end for direct loading

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 4 NO 3 1969 183

 H. FESSLER, C. C. ROGERS AND P. STANLEY

plane where 4 = 15"; it remains substantially constant portion of the shaft, well away from the keyway ends, the
over a range of 4f5" and af20°, but decreases relatively stress index was nowhere significantly greater than unity.
quickly as 4 increases. An unforeseen feature of the stress The results for the 12-in-diameter shaft (D*/*0208)are
system is the constancy of y for each particular keyway end also shown in Fig. 3 for the fillet only. There are un-
generator at a value approximately equal to a. No par- resolved differences in the stress distributions in the
ticular significance can be attached to this feature; it is geometrically similar models D/.0208 and D*/.0208; the
nevertheless notable and facilitates considerably the greater principal stresses in D*/.0208 are slightly smaller
visualization of the overall distribution. For each a value than those in D/.0208 and there are considerable differ-
the stress index at the upper edge of the keyway wall is ences in magnitude in the smaller principal stress,
smaller than the maximum in the fillet. In the prismatic although the differences in the directions of the principal
stresses are not greater than the possible experimental
5 error. Since the 12-inch-diameter model was loaded in
compression, it might be expected, as a result of the finite
4
model strains, that the peak-stress index in it would be
greater than that in the 3 in shaft. It was 6 per cent smaller;
this contrary effect is attributable to several possible causes.
.I
The glycerine contamination at the surface of the 12 in
model made edge fringe reading difficult there; however,
I this effect would not influence the 'through' readings of
1
sub-slices on which the derivation of the correction terms
was based. Material inhomogeneity and possible slightly
I eccentric loading could lead to stress differences of the
order observed. The difference in the peak stresses was
less than the probable 'error in calculated values. The
0 authors suspect that unusually high errors can occur when
rld
oblique incidence is used for reading small fringe orders.
The effects on the peak stress of varying the keyway-
Models D/.0208, D*/.0104 and D*/*0052.
fillet radius are shown in Fig. 4, together with the stress
Fig. 4. Peak stress indices in the keyway end for direct index at the top of the keyway wall which is independent
loading of the fillet-radius ratio.
a=90°

Y a=30°
I

d a=Oo
0 0 30 60 90
0
C
e 0

I
I

0
Q f
a
0 30 60 90 d
b 0
a a = 0". b a = 30". c a = 60". d a = 90". e Directions. f Maximum values.
x Fillet.
+ Top of wall.
Model B/*0208.
- - - Scaled-down values from model D/.0208.
Fig. 5. Stress indices and directions in the keyway end for pure bending

I84 JOURNAL O F S T R A I N A N A L Y S I S VOL 4 NO 3 1969

 STRESSES AT END-MILLED KEYWAYS I N PLAIN SHAFTS SUBJECTED TO TENSION, BENDING AND TORSION
Bending
Principal-stress indices in the keyway end fillet of the
'standard' keyway in bending (B/.0208) are shown (full
lines) in Fig. 5a, b, c, and d. The full lines in Fig. 5e indicate
the principal stress directions. The peak-fillet-stress index
and that at the edge of the keyway wall in a given a plane
are compared in Fig. 5f.
The general similarity with the stress distributions for
the direct-loading cases shown in Fig. 3 is apparent but,
although in this case the peak-stress index on the a = 0
plane occurs at the same position (4 = l5"), it is 2.20
compared with 2.75 for direct loading. A close corre-
spondence for the two different loadings is shown if an
allowance is made for the stress gradient in the bending
case. This has been done by scaling down the indices for
model D/.0208 by the factor (d-2k)ld. The resulting
distributions are shown by the broken lines in Fig. 5a, b, c,
d, and f;the y values for the direct-loading case have also
been added to Fig. 5e for completeness. This modification
produces an excellent agreement between the high-stress
indices on the a = 0 and 30" planes; for the a = 60"plane
the direct-loading indices are somewhat greater than the
c 9
a n =0 . b (
C = 30'. c a = 60". d a =
Fillet.
Top of wall.
Model T/.0208.
Fig. 6. Stress indices and directions in the keyway end for pure torsion
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 4 NO 3 1969
bending values, whilst the opposite is the case for the
a = 90"plane. There is a small disparity in the y values for
the a = 60" plane. Peak-stress indices (Fig. 5f) agree
closely.
The authors were satisfied that bending-stress indices,
particularly the more important higher ones, could be
safely predicted from the direct-loading data and for this
reason further bending tests were not carried out,
Torsion
Stress data for the fillet and wall at the end of the keyway
in the torsion. model T/.0208 are given in Fig. 6. The
maximum stress index of 2.35 in the fillet occurs at 4 =
20" on the a = 50" plane with only slight decreases over an
a range of f15". This plane is a principal plane of the
stress system, i.e. y = 0. In marked contrast to the direct
load stress distribution, a higher stress index occurs at the
upper edge of the keyway wall (Fig. 6f), the maximum
value being 3.39 at the a = 50" position. It should be
noted that the greatest tensile principal stress at the top
of the wall occurs on the opposite side of the keyway to that
in the fillet. In the prismatic section of this'model the
a= 90'
a=6Oo
a=30°
0
a 4
0 30 60 90
e Q
0 30 60 90
f a
90". e Directions. f Maximum values.
185
 H. FESSLER, C. C. ROGERS AND P. STANLEY
e
4 systems for different combined loadings to be determined.
'I
I normal and shearing stresses referred to axes defined by the
ic
I
I bending loading to give normals and shears for the com-
C stresses with a known inclination to the generator. This
0.01 0.02
rld
Models Tl.0208, T/.0104and T/.0052.
0 Keyway end fillet, authors.
Prismatic section fiUet, authors.
x Top of the wall, authors.
Prismatic section fillet, Okubo (4).
+A Prismatic section fillet, Leven (7).
Prismatic section fillet, Nisida and Hondo (8).
Fig. 7. Peak stress indices in the keyway end and in the
prismatic section for pure torsion
maximum-stress index of 2.25 occurred in the keyway
fillet.
Stress indices have also been obtained for the torsion
models T/.0104 and T/.0052 on the a = 50" planes where
the maxima have been assumed to occur. The changes in
the following three stress indices with variations in the
fillet-radius ratio, over the range permitted by the British
Standard, are shown in Fig. 7:
the maximum stress at the upper edge of the keyway
end wall (I,) at a = 50";
the maximum principal stress in the fillet of 'the
keyway end (I,)at a = 50" and 4 = 20";
the maximum principal stress in the fillet of the
prismatic section of the keyway (Zp)at 4 = 20".
Curves have been drawn through the authors' points.
Again, as for direct loading, the maximum-stress index at
the upper edge of the keyway wall was independent of r / d
over the range covered. Both of the other stress indices,
however, did increase considerably as r / d was reduced
from 0.0208 to 0.0052. The overall effect of these
changes was that for r / d > 0.012, Z, > Z, > I,, and for
r/d < 0.012, I, > I, > I,.
DISCUSSION
The complexity of the keyway stress distribution, par-
ticularly at the ends, is shown in Figs 3-7. The changes of
peak-stress index associated with changes in the ratio r/d
and shown in Figs 4 and 7 are clearly important in the
design and failure analysis of keyways. Because the shapes
were based on B.S. recommendations the effects of varia-
tions in keyway breadth and depth have not been investi-
gated and for this reason, if the relevance of Figs 4 and 7
be accepted, further comment on the results should be
made with special reference to the 'standard' keyway
(bld = 0.25, kld = 0.083, r/d = 0.0208).
The stressing of an actual keyway end in service is com-
plicated by the fact that nearly always two or three forms
of loading act simultaneously, in particular bending and
186
torsional loading are frequently combined. The stress
analysis of the 'standard' keyway has been covered in
detail for the separate loadings to enable the stress
The stress indices, which are the principal stresses for
unit surface shear stress and unit maximum bending stress
in torsion and bending respectively, can be resolved into
generator and the normal to it in the tangent plane to the
surface. In this form the stresses for a chosen torsional
loading can be combined with those for a superimposed
bined loading, which in turn can be expressed as principal
process is described in detail in Appendix 2. There is some
freedom in the choiceof a nominal stress for the representa-
tion of the stresses in the combined bending-torsion load-
ing; for example, the maximum shear stress on a surface
element of the shaft subjected to the combined loading
without the keyway, or the maximum principal stress on
such an element. Although both have been evaluated (18),
the latter only is used here.
For the purposes of presentation, a bending moment M
has been regarded as 'equal' to a torque T when they
produce identical maximum shears on the shaft surface,
i.e. when numerically M = T. The principal stresses and
their directions in the fillet and at the top of the wall of the
'standard' keyway have been calculated for ten ratios of
T to M within the range pure torsion-pure bending.
Values were obtained at ten 4 positions for each of ten a!
positions in the fillet. The bending stress indices were
derived from the direct loading ones by multiplying the
latter by the factor (d-2k)ld (i.e. 0.83). The maximum-
stress indices, the maximum principal stress being used as
nominal stress, are shown in Fig. 8 in which, for con-
venience, the quantity TIM is represented as varying from
1 at the origin to zero along the right-hand abscissa, the
quantity M /T from 1 to zero along the left-hand abscissa;
pure torsion is represented on the extreme left, pure
bending on the extreme right. (The combined stress
systems will differ on opposite sides of the keyway end.
The maximum stresses for the combined loading will
occur where the keyway stresses are tensile for the pure
torsion case, i.e. for a negative in the keyway fillet and
MP rm
Fig. 8. Peak stress indices in the keyway end for combined
bending and torsion (rld = 0.0208)
JOURNAL OF S T R A I N ANALYSIS V O L 4 N O 3 1969
 STRESSES AT END-MILLED KEYWAYS IN PLAIN SHAFTS SUBJECTED TO TENSION, BENDING AND TORSION
0 05 1.0
WT $4
Fig. 9. Position of peak stress indices in the keyway end for
combined bending and torsion (rld = 0.0208)
c( positive at the top of the keyway wall, see Fig. 1. The
maximum-stress indices shown in Fig. 8 are for these
regions.)
It is seen that for any combination of bending and
torsion the peak-stress indices are smaller than for pure
torsion.
The peak stress occurs at the edge of the keyway wall
for bending moment/torque ratios less than approximately
1.43 and in the fillet for greater values. The positions of
the peak stresses in the keyway end for the various ratios
of bending moment/torque are shown in Fig. 9.
Stress concentration factors have been published only
for torsion, see Fig. 7. Okubo (4) gives results for the
width and depth ratios used. The peak-stress index of
2.00 which he calculated in the prismatic section is lower
than the 2.25 obtained in this investigation. It has been
shown (Fig. 7) that the peak-stress index at the top of the
keyway wall is independent of fillet-radius ratio; there is a
suggestion that it may also be independent of keyway
depth ratio because Leven's (7) value of 3-40 for k / d =
0.125 agrees with the value in Fig. 6f for k/d = 0.083.
Whereas Leven found that the peak stress at the top of the
keyway wall exceeded that in the fillet in the keyway end
when r/d was less than 0.009, the authors obtained a
value of 0.011.
Application of combined bending and torsion for
other fillet-radius ratios
The peak fillet stresses and the maximum stresses at
the top edge of the keyway wall for the separate loadings
can be obtained from Figs 4 and 7 for any r/d value in the
B.S. range. Exact values for combined loadings of shafts
with fillet-radius ratios other than 0-0208 cannot be
derived from this work, but a close upper bound for the
peak-stress index may be obtained.
If the direct-loading values in Fig. 4 are scaled to give
peak-stress indices for bending, it is seen that the stresses
in the keyway end fillet for all values of r / d are less in
pure bending than those in pure torsion shown in Fig. 7
and, for r/d = 0.0208, they are slightly smaller for any
combination of bending and torsion than for pure torsion
(Fig. 8). For the keyway end fillet, the pure torsion value
may therefore be used for all combinations of bending and
JOURNAL OF S T R A I N A N A L Y S I S V O L 4 NO 3 1969
torsion. For r/d less than 0.012 the peak stress due to
torsion in the fillet is greater in the prismatic section than
in the keyway end (Fig. 7). Because the differences are
small, the greater value may be used for all combinations
of bending and torsion.
The stress at the top of the wall is independent of r/d
and the peak values for any combination of bending and
torsion are less than for pure torsion (Fig. 8). For r/d less
than 0.011, it is smaller than the greatest fillet stress.
The above data and assumptions permit the following
recommendations:
for r/d < 0.011 the peak-stress index in the pris-
matic section from Fig. 7 may be used for all combina-
tions of bending and torsion;
for r / d > 0.011 the greater of the top-of-the-wall
0 " stress index from Fig. 8 and the greatest fillet stress
index from Fig. 7 may be used.
CONCLUSIONS
The complete surface stress field has been determined for
end-milled keyways for B.S. rectangular keys with fillet-
radius ratio r/d = 0.0208 subjected to direct loading and
torsion.
In direct loading the peak-stress index is always in the
fillet at the end of the keyway. It increases from 2.75 to
4.30 as the fillet-radius ratio decreases from 0.0208 to
0.007 (the B.S. range).
The stresses due to bending can be obtained from those
due to direct loading because the ratio of measured stresses
to the stresses in the same fibre in the plain shafts is the
same for both forms of loading.
In torsion, for fillet-radius ratios greater than 0.01 1, the
peak-stress index of 3.39 is at the keyway end, at the top
of the wall. For values less than 0.011 it is in the fillet in
the prismatic section and rises to 4.00 for rid = 0.007, the
smallest fillet-radius ratio permitted by B.S.
Stress indices under combined bending and torsion
have been calculated. The peak values for any combination
of bending and torsion for r/d = 0.0208 are shown in
Fig. 8. Close upper bounds for the peak-stress indices for
other values of r / d can be obtained if a number of reason-
able assumptions are made.
Keyways do not affect the stresses 90" around the
cylindrical surface of the shaft.
A process is required for producing satisfactory, big
epoxy resin castings; extremely small details cannot be
studied unless big castings can be guaranteed to be
reasonably homogeneous and free of initial birefringence.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dr C. C. Rogers held a Science Research Council
studentship during the course of this investigation. The
high-quality work of the technical staff of the Faculty
Workshop and Mechanical Engineering Department is
gratefully acknowledged.
APPENDIX 1
T H E ANALYSIS
A practicable basis for the stress analysis of the keyway
end was the set of slices containing a generator of the
toroidal fillet and cylindrical end wall, i.e. slices charac-
terized by a constant a value. (The use of a surface 'shell'
187
 H. FESSLER, C. C. ROGERS AND P. STANLEY

was not a feasible alternative.) These slices were not in Table 3. Corrected stress values

‘I
general ‘principal slices’ and they could not be satis- I I I I I I

factorily analysed by the oblique incidence method. With a

slice thickness of 0.030 in and viewing angles of f 4 5 ” ,
the included arc length along the generator in the
fillet radius for oblique viewing was 0.030 in, approxi-
mately 30 per cent of the total fillet arc length. The
in

inevitable averaging effect which t h i s would give rise to

-----
0
30
60
2.75
2.28
1.91
1.49
0
0.84
0.53
0.08
2.75
2.40
2.03
1.70
‘ 0
0.60
0.49
0.08
1
I
percent
0
5
6
12
I per cent

-40
-9
0
0

was not acceptable. It was decided that the included arc
length should not exceed 10 per cent of the total fillet arc.
If the slice thickness were reduced to achieve this, there
would have to be either an unacceptable decrease in
fringe-reading accuracy or a load increase which would
cause large deformations and possibly cracking. The use of
small viewing angles leads to a serious ill-conditioning of
the equations from which the separate stresses are
derived.
After consideration of a number of alternatives, the
stress separation method finally developed required :
normal viewing along the edge of a ‘constant a’
slice (Fig. 1 ) ;
‘through’ viewing, normal to the fillet surface, of a
sub-slice milled from the edge of the ‘constant a’ slice.
If u,, uz, and y+90” are the magnitudes and direction
of the principal stresses, the fringe order n,, read at a
particular point on the edge of the constant a slice of
thickness t , is given by
ul cos2y+02 sin2 y = FnJt, . . (1)
If i b and t b are the fringe order and thickness measured at
the corresponding point in ‘through’ viewing of the
milled sub-slice, then
where the correction factor C depends on the thickness
of the sub-slice and the stress gradient through it.
From equations (1) and (2)
a1
ta
crib
= F (%+--sin2y)
tb
. . . (3)
and
The angle y is read directly from the sub-slice.
An essential refinement in the method was the deter-
mination of the correction factor C which enabled an
allowance to be made for the effect of the principal stress-
difference gradient through the thickness of the sub-slice.
Correction factors at all points in the keyway end were
determined by successively thinning down a sub-slice and
extrapolating the fringe order/thickness curve to zero
thickness to obtain the surface value of the principal stress
difference. This operation was not possible on the very
small slices from the 3-inch-diameter shafts. Correction
factors for direct loading were obtained from model
D*/.0208 ( I = 0.25 in), the sub-slice thickness being
reduced in two stages from 0.120 in (for which tb/r =
0-48) to 0.060 in and 0.030 in. For torsional loading
model T/.0208 was used for the determination of correc-
tion factors with successive sub-slice thicknesses of 0.060,
0.040, and 0.020 in.
For each loading in turn, the 10 values of fringes per
90
unit thickness obtained from the 10 ‘through’ fringe
readings in a sub-slice of a given thickness were curve-
fitted to a fourth-order polynomial, by the least-squares
method. The three curve-fitted values of the fringe read-
ings at a particular $ position were themselves ‘fitted’ to a
quadratic, from which the surface value of the fringe order
per unit thickness was obtained by extrapolation. The
correction factor for a given loading at a particular point
is defined as
fringes per unit thickness for t b = 0
C = fringes per unit thickness for t b / t = 0.48
(The smallest practicable thickness tb for milled sub-slices
is 0.030 in. For the 3-inch-diameter shaft this gave
tb/r = 0.48; this ratio was aimed at for all sub-slices.)
A table showing corrected (I,,, lZc)and uncorrected
(I,, la)values of principal-stress indices at different 01
positions for a fillet-radiuslshaft-diameter ratio of 0.0208
with direct loading is given in Table 3.
It is to be noted that for direct loading:
the peak stress occurs on the 01 = 0 plane and is
obtained directly from the normal viewing of the 01 = 0
slice without recourse to sub-slice readings;
for other a values the greater principal stress is not
critically dependent on C although large percentage
changes result in the smaller stress. This signifies that a
high degree of accuracy is not required in these correc-
tion factors.
For torsional loading the values of the correction factors
were unity throughout the keyway fillet but there were
significant stress gradients normal to the surface in the
wall of the keyway end. The maximum stresses were
found to occur at the top of the keyway wall and were
obtained from fringe readings in sub-slices. In these cases,
therefore, the importance of the correction factors is
greater and more care is required in their determination.
For bending as for direct loading the peak-stress index
is independent of the sub-slice reading and therefore of
any correction term. Elsewhere the correction factors for
direct loading were also used for bending.
APPENDIX 2
D E R I V A T I O N O F STRESS I N D I C E S FOR C O M B I N E D
TORSIONAL A N D B E N D I N G LOADS
An applied torque T produces a nominal stress 16T/7rd3.
At any point in the surface of the keyway end the‘principal
stresses due to the torque are therefore
16T 16T
(IlT = I l T and oZT = ZzT-
nd3
and the inclination of ulT to the generator yT. These
stresses can be resolved in the x direction, parallel to the

188 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 4 NO 3 1969

 STRESSES A T END-MILLED KEYWAYS I N PLAIN SHAFTS SUBJECTED T O TENSION, BENDING AND TORSION

generator, and t h e y direction, normal to it as
the corresponding maximum stress index at the upper
edge of the keyway wall.
Conversely, the last equation enables the peak stress uIc
for a given torque T and moment M to be obtained from
the data in Fig. 8.

APPENDIX 3
REFERENCES
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A bending moment M produces a nominal stress 32 3- (I)
rrd with special references to keyways’, Phil Trans. R . SOC.
and the principal stresses Series A 1900 193,369.
(2) GRONWALL, A. ‘Torsion of circular shaft with keyway’,
32M d-2k 32M Trans. Am. SOC.mech. Engrs 1919 20,234.
ulB = ‘ 1 H P =-IlD? d (3) SHEPHERD, W.M. ‘The torsion and flexure of shafting with
rrd
and keyways and cracks’, Proc. R . SOC.Series A 1938 138,
607.
32M d-2k 32M (4) OKUBO, H. ‘On torsion of shafts with keyways’, Q. 31 Mech.
--
‘Jan = I z B - 37d3 - d ‘ 2 D . r r d 3 appl. Math. 1950 3, 162.
( 5 ) GRIFFITHS, A. A. and TAYLOR, G. I. ‘Application of soap
(The subscript D denotes direct loading. The bending films to the determination of the torsion and flexure of
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scaling-down, as previously explained.) The inclination 392.
(6) GRIFFITHS, A. A. and TAYLOR, G. I. ‘The use of soap films
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referred to the x and y axes may be obtained as before and 1917,755.
the total-stress system, also referred to the x, y axes and (7) LEVEN,M. M. ‘Stresses in keyways by photoelastic methods
denoted by subscript C, is obtained by addition. The and comparison with numerical solution’, Proc. SOC.
resulting principal stresses are: exp. Stress Analysis 1950 7, 141.
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129.
(9) NISIDA,M. and HONDO, H. ‘New photoelastic procedures
‘J2c = *c-J(+ ‘Jxc +
‘Jyc +.,2
for solving torsion problems’, Proc. 7th yap. Nut. Congr.
appl. Mech. 1957, 143.
2 (10)MOORE,H.F. ‘The effect of keyivays on the strength of
and the inclination of ol, to the generator shafts’, Univ. Ill. Bull. 1910, No. 42.
(11) GOUGH, H.J. ‘The effect of keyways upon the strength and
stiffness of shafts subjected to torsional stresses’, Aero-
naut. Res. Cow. tech. Rep. 1924,488.
(12) PETERSON, R. E. ‘Fatigue of shafts having keyways’, Proc.
Because the maximum principal stress is used as the Am. SOC.Test. Muter. 1932 32 (Pt 2), 413.
nominal stress, the peak-stress index at the point under (13) TIMOSHENKO, S. ‘Stress concentrations and fatigue failures’,
the combined loading, I,,, is given by Proc. Znstn mech. Engrs 1947 157,163.
(14) DOREY,S. F. ‘Large scale torsional fatigue testing of
0 1c marine shafts’, Proc. Znstn mech. Engrs 1948 159, 399.
I,, =
5 +I;
[l +J1
(15) BRITISH STANDARDSINSTITUTION British Standard 4G:
Part I : 1958 Keys and keyways (London).
(16) American Standards Association 1943, B17, 1.
(17) German Standard D.I.N. 6885.
The maximum value of I,, over the keyway end fillet for (18)ROGERS,C. C. Stresses in shouldered shafts with keyways
the case r/d = 0.0208 is plotted against the moment/ 1968 Thesis submitted to Nottingham University for the
torque (or torque/moment) ratio in Fig. 8, together with degree of Ph.D.

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 4 NO 3 1969 189