Finite Element Simulation Of Impact Strength Properties Of Aluminum Wheel

Wheel is one of most important parts of automobile, the structure performance directly affects automobile’s safety, stability and ride comfort. Automobile wheel performance Test standard demand that, if the wheel can’t pass the impact test, the bending fatigue test and radial load fatigue test, the company’s wheel will not be allowed into the market. If we use test methods to guide wheel design, there will be a long period and high cost. With the development of computer science and technology,finite element method has been widely used in practical engineering analysis, it can be reasonably guide the design and shorten the design cycle and reduce development costs.In the actual driving process, the wheel condition is very complex. When the wheel pass by the stone pit or impacted by stone and other harsh conditions, it is likely to cause damage to instant failure, resulting in a threat to safety. In order to ensure vehicle safety and reduce production costs, we should avoid wheel impact damage in the early design phase of development of the wheel. Therefore, this thesis main study the simulation of wheel impact test, and provide a reference to the wheel’s structure and performance optimization.Based on the structure and composition of the material characteristics of the tire,the tire is reasonable simplified, and a good tire finite element analysis model is established. In this model, the REBAR model in finite element software ABAQUS is used to simulate the cord layer, and the FLUID CAVITY model is used to simulate the tires filled with air, and the longitudinal deep tread pattern is considered, so the finite element model is in accord with the actual tire.A finite element analysis model of the wheel 90o inner side impact test is established, and a dynamic simulation of the wheel impact test has been achieved,predicting the residual deformation of the wheel rim after impact. Moreover, finite element analysis results were compared with the experimental results, verifying the correctness of the impact test finite element analysis models and methods, thus an effective wheel impact finite element analysis method has been established. Then a study on the effects of tires and tire pressure on accuracy of the simulation results is been carried out. It shows that the tire and its pressure in wheel impact simulation analysis can not be ignored. Finally, the influence of different punches and different pressures on wheel impact properties were studied and the results shows that:Inhorizontal impact, when the kinetic energy of different punches are the same,equivalent plastic strain and the maximum deformation of tire are close. When the tire pressure increase, the rim plastic deformation is reduced, but the impact increase and comfort deteriorates.