Finite Element Analysis Of An Aluminum Alloy Wheel Based On Bending And Radial Fatigue Test

In the automobile parts, the wheel is an important part and safety part of cars, during theentire service life, the wheel is not allowed to break. At present in the process of many wheelsdevelopment and design, the fatigue life of the wheel is often predicted by experiments andexperience, and this approach certainly will cause waste of materials and time. With thedevelopment of computer technology, CAE technology is widely used in various industriesbecause of its unique advantages, so in the design process using finite element simulationanalysis has a practical significance.A number of performance tests must be qualified before the wheel used. This paperanalysis the fatigue performance of the wheel through the bending and radial fatigue test, ifwe can predict the fatigue life and the crack regions of the wheel at the design stage, it will begood for structure improvement and optimization design.Based on the national standards of the bending and radial fatigue test for vehicle wheel,this paper establishes the finite element model of the aluminum alloy wheel, divides the grid,defines material parameters, and imposes constraints and load on the model. Building themodel of bending fatigue test, the pretension element PRETS179is used to simulate thepre-tightening force of the bolt, and take the contact farce between face and face into account.In the model of the radial fatigue test, the force on the aluminum alloy wheel from the tire isreplaced by the radial force directly on the wheel to simplify the modeling. And then,calculate the stress of the aluminum alloy wheel as the wheel rotates a week; approximatelychoose ten directions instead of a week, from the stress distribution of the aluminum alloywheel, make sure the stress value in stress concentration region which the crack may occur.On the basis of above work, the fatigue life of the aluminum alloy wheel is calculated andanalyzed by the software FE-SAFE, choosing laws of fatigue as BrownMiller, using Meanstress correction of Morrow. View the cloud picture of the fatigue results and the value ofFOS by the post-processor of the software ANSYS. Compared to the results of the bendingand radial fatigue test, the validity of the finite element model and simulation method for thealuminum alloy wheel is verified. Through the simulation of bending and radial fatigue test, the fatigue life and cracklocation can be predicted quickly and accurately. So the finite element model and simulationmethod for the wheel can effectively design the wheel, reduce the cost and speed up thedevelopment of the wheel, which have an important guiding significance and practical valuefor improving the design level of automobile wheels.