Determination of service life of cardan shafts used light and heavy commercial vehicles by analytical and numerical methods

In this thesis, an analytical method has been derived to estimate the service life of cardan shafts used in vehicles. It was calculated in kilometers and working hours. It was examined how drive shaft series and mounting layout of a 18 metre articulated bus impact on its service life. For this examination, 2 years of data collected during periodical maintenance by vehicle after-sales services were used. The parameters depending on the driver and traffic conditions, such as how often the gear ratios change on the driving route of the vehicle, were obtained by examining the vehicle electronic control unit (ECU). As a result of the tests carried out by the bearing manufacturers under the pre-determined limit conditions, it is explained how the static (C0) and dynamic transmission (2CR) coefficients can be used in the service life calculation considering the vehicle conditions.