CHAPTER FOUR

Torsion of circular shafts & power

transmission
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
4.1. Introduction
• Torsion refers to the twisting of a structural member
when it is loaded by couples that produce rotation
about its longitudinal axis.
• Torsional loading is pictured in Fig below, which
shows a straight bar supported at one end and loaded
two pairs of forces.
• Each pair of forces form a couple that tends to twist
the bar about its longitudinal axis.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The moment of a couple is equal to the product of one
of the forces and the perpendicular distance between
the lines of action of the forces; thus the first couple
has a moment T1 = P1d1 and the second has a moment
T2 = P2d2.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
4.2. Derivations of torsional stress, polar modulus.
Torsion of circular shafts
• Basic assumptions for circular members
• To establish a relation between the internal torque and the
stresses it sets up in members with circular solid and tabular
cross-sections, the following assumptions are made.
1. Plane circular cross sections, perpendicular to the
axis of the bar, remain plane after the application of
a torque; (points in a given plane remain in that plane
after twisting. Further more, expansion or contraction of a
cross section does not occur nor does a shortening or
lengthening of the bar. Thus all normal strains are zero.)
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
2. In a circular member subjected to torque, shear
strains γ varies linearly from the central axis
reaching γmax at the periphery.
3. If attention is confined to the linearly elastic
material, Hooke’s law applies, and it follows that
shear stress is proportional to shear strain.
• Consider a bar or shaft of circular cross-section twisted
by couples T acting at the ends (next slide).
• A bar loaded in this manner is said to be in pure
Torsion.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission

• The cross-sections of the circular bar rotate as rigid

bodies about the longitudinal axis, with radii
remaining straight and the cross-sections remaining
plane and circular.
• Also, if the total angle of twist of the bar is small,
neither the length of the bar nor its radius will
change.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• During twisting the right hand end of the bar will
rotate through a small angle ø with respect to the left
hand end (previous slide).
• The angle ø is known as the angle of twist. Because of
this rotation, a longitudinal line mn on the surface
of the bar will rotate through a small angle to position
mn’.
• Consider an element of the bar between two cross-
sections that are distance dx apart.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• This volume element is isolated as shown.
• On the outer surface identify a small element abcd,
with sides ab and cd that are parallel to the
longitudinal axis.
• During twisting of the bar, points b and c move to b’
and c’, respectively.
• The lengths of the sides of the element do not change
during this rotation, but the angles at the corners are no
longer equal to 90.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The element is in a state of pure shear, and the magnitude of
the shear strain γ is equal to the decrease
in the angle at a.
• This decrease in angle is

• But bb’ = rdø and ab = dx

• r – radius of the cross section
• dø - angle of twist between the two ends of the small element.
• The expression for shear strain becomes,
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The quantity dØ/dx represents the rate of change of
the angle of twist Ø.
• Let ,angle of twist per unit length
• Then,
• In general, both ø and θ are functions of x. However,
in the special case of pure torsion the angle of twist per
unit length is constant along the length L of the bar,
because every cross-section is subjected to the same
torque.
• Therefore,
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• Shear strain,, for pure torsion
• The shear stresses τ in the circular bar act on an
element in the directions shown in the previous figure.
• For a linearly elastic material, the shear stresses, are
related to the shear strains by Hooke’s law in shear;
• therefore, Shear stress, τ = Gγ = Grθ
• Where, G is the shear modulus of elasticity.
• The above Equations relate the strains and stresses for
an element at the surface of the bar to the angle of
twist pet unit length.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• Following the same procedure as for an element at the
surface of an interior cylinder of radius ρ
γ = ρθ τ = Gρθ
• These equations show that the shear strains and stresses in a
circular bar vary linearly with the radial distance ρ from the
center, with the maximum values occurring at the outer
surface.
• The elemental shear force acting on an element of area dA is
equal to τdA, where τ is the shear stress at radius ρ.
• The moment of this force about the axis of the bar is τρdA.
• But, τ = Gρθ
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• This Equation shows θ, the angle of twist per unit
length, is directly proportional to the torque T and
inversely proportional to the product GIp, known as the
torsional rigidity of the shaft.
• The total angle of twist, ø, equal to θL, is

• Where ø is in radian
• In SI units; T is in N-m, L in m, G in Pascals & Ip = m4
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• If the shaft is made of different materials or if it
consists of various cross sections, the total angle of
twist is obtained by adding individual angle of twist of
each end wrt the previous
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The quantity GJ/L or GIp/L, called the torsional
stiffness, is the torque required to produce a unit angle
of rotation of one end of the bar with respect to the
other.
• The torsinal flexibility is defined as the reciprocal of the
stiffness, or L/GIp, which is the angle of rotation
produced by a unit torque.
• These expressions are analogous to those for axial
stiffness EA/L and axial flexibility L/EA.
• For circular bars
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The above Equation is known as the torsion formula.
• Shear stress at distance ρ from the center is

• the above equations are applicable to circular tubes.

• It is necessary, however, to modify Ip. For a tube,the
limits of integration for polar moment of inertia extend
from r1 to r2.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• constant torque with continuously varying cross
section
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Example 1
• If a twisting moment of 1100 N ⋅ m is impressed upon
a 4.4-cm-diameter shaft, what is the maximum
shearing stress developed? Also, what is the angle of
twist in a 150-cm length of the shaft? The material
is steel for which G = 85 GPa.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
SOLUTION:
• The polar moment of inertia of the cross-sectional area
is

• The torsional shearing stress at any distance from the

center of the shaft is given by.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The maximum shear stress is developed at the outer
fibers where = 0.022 m

• The shear stress varies linearly from zero at the center

of the shaft to 65.8 MPa at the outer fibers.
• The angle of twist in a 3-m length of the shaft is
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Example 2
• A hollow cylindrical shaft 1.5m long and has inner and
outer diameter of 40 and 60mm respectively.
a) What is the largest torque that can be applied to the
shaft if the shearing stress is not to exceed 120 Mpa?
b) What is the corresponding minimum value of the
shearing stress in the shaft?
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Solution
a) the largest permissible torque
• The largest torque T that can be applied to the shaft for
which
• Since this value is less than the yield strength for the
steel, we can use the torsional formula to compute the
torque.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The polar moment of inertia is given by

𝜋
¿
2
( 0.032 − 0.02 ) =𝟏 . 𝟎𝟐𝟏 𝐱 𝟏𝟎 𝒎
4 4 −𝟔 𝟒

• Rearranging the equation for shear stress

Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
b) minimum shear stress
• Since the stress distribution is linear

𝜏 𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝜏 𝑚𝑖𝑛
=
𝑟2 𝑟1

𝑟1
𝜏 𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝜏 𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑟2

𝝉𝒎𝒊𝒏 =𝟖𝟎 𝑴𝑷𝒂

 Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Example 3
• The horizontal shaft AD is
attached to a fixed base at D and
is subjected to the torques as
shown. A 44mm diameter hole
has been drilled into portion CD
of the shaft. Knowing that the
entire shaft is made of steel for
which G=77GPa,determine the
angle of twist at end A.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Solution
• Since the shaft consists of three parts AB, BC and CD
each with constant cross section and each with a
constant internal torque, we can use equation for angle
of twist for d/t sections.
• Using statics and passing a section through the shaft
between A and B and using the free body diagram
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• Passing a section between B and C we have

• Since no torque is applied at C we have

Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• Polar moment of inertia: The polar moment of inertia
for solid and hollow section is computed as
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• Angle of twist : we can use equation for angle of
twist
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Polar Modulus
• Polar modulus is defined as the ratio of Polar moment
of inertia to the radius of the shaft.
• It is also called torsional section modulus and is
denoted by
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
4.4. Strain energy due to torsion
• The strain energy stored in a solid circular bar or shaft
subjected to torque T is given by
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• Transmission of Power by Circular Shafts
• The most important use of circular shafts is to transmit
mechanical power, such as drive shaft of an
automobile, propeller shaft of a ship, axle of bicycle,
torsional bar, etc.
• A common design problem is the determination of the
required size of a shaft so that it will transmit a
specified amount of power at a specified speed of
revolution without exceeding the allowable stress
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• Power is defined as the work performed per unit of
time.
• The work transmitted by a rotating shaft is equal to the
torque applied times the angle of rotation.
• At instant time an applied torque T causes the shaft to
rotate , Then the instantaneous power is

Since the shafts angular velocity , the power is

expressed as
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
• The SI unit of power is watts(1W=1N.m/s)
• For machinery, the frequency of the shaft rotation, f, is
reported.
• This is a measure of number of revolution or cycles the
shaft makes per second and is expressed in hertz (1
Hz= 1 cycle/second).
• Since (1cycle = ,then, then the above equation
becomes
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Shaft design
• If we know the torque T and the allowable stress , we
can determine the size of the shaft’s cross section
using the torsional formula, provided that the material
behaves in linear elastic region.
• The design or geometric parameter J/c becomes
 Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Example
• For a solid circular bar AB of length L, determine the
strain energy for the torque applied
a) At the tip of the bar
b) At mid point
c) Both and acting simultaneously
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Solution
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
 Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Example 2
• A solid steel shaft AB shown
below is to be used to transmit
3750 W from a motor M to
which it is attached. If the shaft
rotates at and the steel has an
allowable shear stress of 100
Mpa, determine the required
diameter of the shaft to the
nearest mm
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Solution
• The torque on the shaft can be determined by
rearranging the formula for power transmission.
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission

• Applying the equation for shaft design

Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission

Example 3
• A tubular shaft, having an inner diameter of 30mm and
outer diameter of 420mm is to be used to transmit
90kW of power. Determine the frequency of rotation
of the shaft so that the shear stress will not exceed 50
Mpa
Torsion of circular shafts & power transmission
Solution
• The maximum torque that can be applied can be
determine by using the torsional formula

• The frequency of the rotation is

Thank you!!!