Stress Evaluation of Automotive Steel Road Wheel under Radial Load

Abstract

In order to develop a new high-performance wheel with high fatigue strength and light weight, a rigorous quantitative method for evaluating the induced stress of the wheel is necessary. In this study, a stress evaluation technique with three-dimensional finite element method is developed for an automotive steel road wheel during radial load fatigue test. The method of the determination of the load distribution loaded on the rim is proposed, by referring the stress measure with strain gage on the rim. According to the present method, the calculated results with a half model simulates well the actual stress distribution. The variation of the stress amplitude during a rotation of the wheel is obtained from the calculation, and the characteristic stress variation of the wheel, for example the three stress cycles at the rim per rotation, becomes clear. Also, the effect of the basic design parameters such as disc hat radius and rim thickness on the stress amplitude numerically.