Vibration analysis of a double cardan shaft

Double Cardan shafts are common mechanisms for transmitting motion between non-collinear shafts. Although essential for various industrial applications, vehicles and marine vessels, cardan shafts monitoring is lacking and diagnostics can significantly improve. In this paper, the vibration analysis of a double Cardan shaft is investigated. Shaft speed oscillation and asynchronous speed of the crosspiece compose a complex signature. In order to understand the signals a kinematic analysis was carried out. Analysis results illustrate the behavior of each component in the signature and comparison to experimental results taken on a real size cardan shaft confirms our understanding of the signal. Future work is targeted at the crosspiece bearings and their fault manifestation.