Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Mechanical Engineering 1 1 2013 10 06 Effect of Rim Thickness on Load Sharing in the Rotating Elements 126 130 EN Rashmi Uddanwadiker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India AJME2013154 10.12691/ajme-1-5-4 2013 08 30 2013 09 19 2013 10 06 The aim of the study is to obtain an optimal arm section for the structures like pulleys, gears, flywheels etc. considering variation of rim thickness with pulley radius. Presently, the design of arm pulley with thin rim is being carried out with an assumption that the bending moment (BM) is shared by half the number of arms, whereas in case of arm gear or V-Belt pulley the assumption is made that BM is shared by total number of arms. In the present paper, Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to determine the BM shared by the arms for its different angular positions. The distribution of bending stress in the arms is also obtained. Finally, design modifications have been suggested considering radius to rim thickness ratio (r/t). Hence it is concluded that when, 15 ≥ r/t > 10.5 – BM is shared by N/2 number of arms, 10.5 ≥ r/t > 7.5 – BM is shared by 4N/7 number of arms, 7.5 ≥ r/t > 5 – BM is shared by 2N/3 number of arms, 5 ≥ r/t > 3 – BM is shared by 4N/5 number of arms, 3 ≥ r/t –BM is shared by N number of arms.