Joint Influence of Transverse Compression and Shear-Flexural Stiffness on Rubber V-Belt Mechanics

The elasto-mechanical behavior of a rubber V-belt in the neighborhood of the seating and unseating regions of the pulley is affected by the transverse belt compliance, which produces a gradual radial penetration into the groove and by the shear-flexural deformation, which arches the belt line along the free strand away from the ideal straight path. These effects are always analyzed separately in the literature, but are in close correlation with each other. This lecture describes the matching between the free strand and the wrap region, showing a remarkable reduction of the belt arching and of the contact losses, with respect to the conventional theory.