This successful project, jointly funded by the DTI and by a GRF consortium, aimed to develop an accurate elastic model of contact and stressing in highly loaded splines. It achieved it’s objectives in developing a validated full 3-dimensional spline coupling stressing and contact model, based on Boundary Element techniques, and in conducting research, at Nottingham University, into spline fretting/wear using a range of test rigs.
The outcome of this work is a user friendly computer software programme which will assist a specialist designer in producing efficient and effective spline joint couplings for a wide variety of aerospace applications. A project investigating industrial and automotive splines is planned for the future.