International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 – 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) © IAEME 438 OPTIMUM DESIGN OF AUTOMOTIVE COMPOSITE DRIVE SHAFT WITH GENETIC ALGORITHM AS OPTIMIZATION TOOL Ghatage K.D 1 , Hargude N.V 2 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, RIT Sakhrale 415414, Sangli, Maharashtra, India; 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering,PVPIT Budhgon 416416, Sangli, Maharashtra, India E-mail- ghatagekishor89@gmail.com ; nvhargude@gmail.com 1. ABSTRACT Substituting composite materials for conventional metallic structures has many advantages because of higher specific stiffness and strength of composite materials. Advanced composite materials seem ideally suited for long, power drive shaft applications. Their elastic properties can be tailored to increase the torque and the rotational speed at which they operate. This study has been carried out to investigate maximum torque; buckling torque transmission and critical speed of composite drive shaft. Main aim of this work is to investigate either replacing steel structure of drive shaft; for rear wheel drive passenger cars; by composite structures such as carbon/Epoxy and Glass/Epoxy materials will be convenient or not. For finding out the suitability of composite structures for automotive drive shaft application the parameters such as; ply thickness, number of plies and stacking sequence are optimized for carbon/Epoxy and Glass/Epoxy shafts using Genetic Algorithm as an optimization tool with the objective of weight minimization of the composite shaft which is subjected to constraints such as torque transmission, torsional buckling load and fundamental natural frequency. 2. INTRODUCTION A driveshaft is the connection between the transmission and the rear axle of the car. The advanced composite materials such as Boron, Graphite, Carbon, Kevlar and Glass with suitable resins are widely used because of their high specific strength (strength/density) and high specific modulus (modulus/density). Polymer matrix composites were proposed for light weight shafts in drivelines for automotive, industries. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET) ISSN 0976 – 6340 (Print) ISSN 0976 – 6359 (Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, September - December (2012), pp. 438-449 © IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2012): 3.8071 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com IJMET © I A E M E