Plateau Heavy-Duty Automobile Transmission Shaft Universal Joint Fork Optimal Design Based on FEM

The main feature of Plateau heavy-duty automobile transmission shaft is low speed, great torque, to adapt to the environment of plateau mountain climbing. The universal joint fork is an important part of the transmission shaft, and Its strength and stiffness determine the main performance of the drive shaft. In this paper, we use the Patran/Nastran finite element analysis software to carry on the finite element method for analysing the drive shaft universal joint. Because the grid division has an very large impact on the analysis results, in order to improve the analysis precision and maximum reduce the analysis time, the analysis unit adopts the tetrahedral solid elements, dividing mesh by combining automatic and manual, to get the appropriate nodes and grid units, and then we analyze the displacement, stress and deformation. According to the analysis results to find the parts of the weak link, and using lightweight design without affecting the strength and stiffness of the parts, to achieve the purpose of saving materials and get the best part structure.