Why is a hollow shaft is better than a solid shaft?

Answer1:
Because the further away material is from the center, the greater the contribution it makes
to stiffness of the shaft. Conversely, the material at the center of the shaft doesn't
contribute much to stiffness.

By removing the material at the center of the shaft you reduce the weight of the shaft,
while only marginally reducing the stiffness. This results in a better strength-to-weight ratio.

Answer2:
If you are asking about the shaft which can resist the torsion load more with the same
resisting area (same weight), than the answer should be Hollow shaft.

If you see the shear stress diagram of a shaft on application of torque it would look like this
Here, you can see that the maximum shear stress applied is at the outer diameter, so the
elements at the outer diameter is contributing it's full resistance force to the torque applied.
while at the inside the elements are not applying it's full resistance thus causing waste of
their strength.

To get a clear Idea,

Look at this picture,(sorry for my bad handwriting s)

The elements at the inside are receiving far less shear stress than the maximum shear
stress resisted by the elements at the outside.

If we remove the elements from inside and place that elements at outside diameter it can
contribute to resist more shear stress thus can contribute to resist more torque.
That's why hollow shafts are far better than the solid shafts for torsion load transmission for
the same weight criteria.

Answer3:

But if you want to understand this with the help of equations,

For the resisting the torsion load, the polar moment of area is considered as the resisting
area, so if the polar moment of inertia of any shape is more it can withstand more torque
compared to others.
For the same area, Hollow shafts are having more polar moment of inertia, thus they can
transmit more torque compared to solid shafts

Answer4:

Depends on what is the application of the shaft.

If its a load bearing type of shaft, then its always better to choose HOLLOW SHAFT since it has higher
stiffness and rigidity and can resist slightly higher bending moments.
If its a shaft for torque transmission (Crank shafts,Drive shafts etc) it is always advised to use a SOLID
SHAFT because it has higher torsional stiffnes

Answer5:
Better because: 
1. Stiffness of a hollow shaft is more than that of a solid shaft of the same weight.
2.  Strength of a hollow shaft is more than that of a solid shaft of the same weight.
3.  natural frequency of a hollow shaft is higher than that of a solid shaft of the same weight.

In all the above instances keeping the length and material properties the same
Answer6:

According to Mechanism Theory, the material which is far from the rotation axis contributes more stiffness and
strength while the material close to center contributes less. So it can easily spare material by using hollow
structure, which can decrease the cost.

Answer7:
The maximum stresses occur at the planes which are the farthest away from the centroidal axis. The
centroidal axis is called the neutral axis. Along this axis, the shaft experiences no change in length. It is
neither in compression nor in tension. The axis farthest away in the upward direction shortens and thus
experiences compression while the axis farthest away in the downward direction elongates and thus
experiences tension so that it forms a circular arc as shown in the figure.
If a hollow and a solid shaft are of the same weight, the hollow shaft contains the same amount of material
all at the ends whereas in the solid shaft, that material is uniformly distributed throughout the shaft
leaving little material at the ends as compared to the hollow shaft. That is why when loaded, the hollow
shaft has more material at the ends to bear the high compressive and tensile stresses and is thus stronger
than the solid shaft.

Mathematically, the maximum stress directly depends on the polar moment of inertia.  Polar moment of
inertia is mass times the distance squared from the polar axis. Since all the mass of a hollow shaft is far
away from the polar axis, therefore it has a higher polar moment of inertia and is much stronger

Answer 8:

By shaft one means a rod which has to handle torsional (rotational) loads. For any shaft, the stresses are
proportional to the radius. This means that the central part is having very less stress but it is adding
weight. It is advantageous to remove the central material and get a hollow shaft.

Answer 9:

Hollow shaft has more torque transmitting capacity than solid shaft.
And there is no problem of shaft whirling when transmission shaft is rotating at very high speed in case of
hollow shaft.
When transmitting same torque hollow shaft undergoes less shear stress than solid shaft.
Weight of the hollow shaft is less than solid shaft.
For short distance solid shaft is appropriate but for long distance hollow shaft is more suitable.
But hollow shaft has more cost of production compared to solid shaft.
Answer 10:

There are a lot of ways in which a shaft's strength can be depicted.

The shaft can have torsional strength,bending strength.

In case of a hollow and  solid shaft comparison hollow shaft has more torsional strength.

Tmax = 16τmax/(π D^3) 

Tmax = 16τmax/(π(D^4-d^4))

Tmax = maximum twisting moment (Nmm, in lb)

τmax = maximum shear stress (MPa, psi)

Tmax represents the torsional strength.

Because of d^4 is subtracted and in denominator, Tmax of hollow shaft is higher if a solid shaft of same
OD is compared.

Answer 11: (answer to why hollow have more

natural freq)

Natural frequency=√(k)/√(m).
As mass is lesser in case of a hollow shaft,the natural frequency is more.

Answer 12
Take a cross section of a solid shaft. Only the external ring is involved in resistance to the
applied torque. So, the material being used in the center is wasted. So, if you select a tube to
work as a hollow shaft you will get the same resistance to torque with a much lighter shaft
Answer 13

• Hence, it is better to use shafts of large radius and the material is of high rigidity modulus.

• Hollow shaft is stronger and better than the solid shaft of the same length, mass and material.
Answer 14

The following are advantages :

1. light weight: for the same power to be transmitted and same material of both shafts, a hollow shaft is
lighter than the solid shaft.

2. Stiffness: for the same weight ,stiffness of hollow shaft is more than solid shaft.

3. Strength : for the same weight ,strength of hollow shaft is more than solid shaft.

4. Natural Frequency : Natural frequency of hollow shaft is more than that of solid shaft with same weight