Development of a representative test specimen for frictional contact in spline joint couplings

The frictional contact conditions in a helical spline joint coupling under torsional and axial loads are studied using finite element analyses. Comparisons of spline root torsional stresses are made with photoelastic measurements. Surface contact tractions, relative slip distributions and subsurface localized stress component and equivalent stress distributions are presented for both the external and the internal spline contact surfaces. The work is important as a basis for understanding and predicting the fatigue, contact fatigue, fretting fatigue, wear and fretting wear characteristics of the coupling. A representative test specimen concept is presented which seeks to capture the local contact variable distributions in the spline coupling, with a view to predicting the wear and the contact and fretting fatigue performance of the coupling.