Numerical and experimental investigation of the torsional stiffness of flexible disc couplings

•Curve of torsional stiffness vs. torque could be divided into six phases.•Torsional stiffness during each phase varied with torque.•Pretightening force had a significant effect on the inflection point of the curve.•Torsional stiffness decreased with decrease of torque during load fluctuation.•Increasing area of diaphragm contributed to increase of torsional stiffness.

Disc couplings are widely used in compressors, gas turbines, and aerospace applications because of their flexibility and their consequent ability to compensate in almost all directions. The torsional stiffness of disc coupling has a great influence on shaft torsional vibration, and in many applications low-order torsional resonance may occur due to insufficient stiffness in the disc coupling. Investigation of the factors influencing the torsional stiffness of disc coupling will help to improve the design and control of shaft torsional vibration. In this paper, a 3D finite element (FE) model was built to estimate the stiffness of a disc coupling, taking the behavior of friction and contact into consideration. Based on this model, the curve of torque vs. angular displacement was obtained by applying a series of torsional load steps to the coupling. The effects of diaphragm shape, bolt preload, and fluctuation of torque were evaluated. A test rig was established to validate the simulated results. Both the simulated and experimental results demonstrated a strong nonlinear relationship between the torque and angular displacement during both the loading and unloading processes. The results also showed that the bending and inclining of flanges and diaphragms were mainly responsible for the varied stiffness of the disc coupling. In addition, load fluctuation, bolt preload, and shape of diaphragms could lead to variation in the stiffness of disc couplings.