Analysis of High-angle Situations in Drive Shaft Joints for Electric Vehicles – A Case Study

This study performs a thermomechanical analysis of an electric vehicle drive shaft under high-angle rotation using LS-DYNA and Ansys transient thermal analysis. It examines how 40o and 50° angular misalignments affect thermal and stress distributions at the contact interface. Results revealed that larger angles caused greater discrepancies from prior models. To improve accuracy, a segmented contact surface approach was used instead of the conventional average heat flux method, reducing simulation-experiment deviation by about 43%. However, the analysis did not include the rubber boot’s thermal effect or fully account for dynamic changes in friction and material properties. Future work should integrate empirical data and advanced thermal modeling under various driving conditions to enhance predictive performance.