Shaft-hub press fit subjected to couples and radial forces: analytical evaluation of the shaft-hub detachment loading

A shaft-hub press fit subjected to two non-axisymmetric loading conditions is examined and the situation of incipient detachment between the shaft and the hub is determined. The first condition consists of a central radial load P applied to the hub, balanced by two lateral forces P=2 applied to the shaft at a distance d from the hub lateral walls. In the second condition, a central couple C is applied to the hub, and it is balanced by two lateral opposite loads withstood by the shaft at a distance d from the hub lateral walls. The shaft-hub contact is modelled in terms of two elastic Timoshenko beams connected by distributed elastic springs (Winkler foundation), whose constant is analytically evaluated. Based upon this enhanced beam-like modelling, the loading inducing an undesired shaft-hub incipient detachment is theoretically determined in terms of the shaft-hub geometry, of the initial shaft-hub interference, and of the elastic constants. Finite element forecasts are presented to quantify the error of this beam-like approximate analytical approach.