Applicability Analysis of Carbon Fiber Composite Materials for a Novel Lightweight Designing Lap Bar of Amusement Ride

Abstract

The machinery manufacturing industry, including amusement rides, has made progress in structural lightweight and increasingly using carbon fiber‐reinforced plastics (CFRP) to achieve modest weight savings. The lap bar, as a key force‐bearing component used to restrain passengers, bears the brunt of becoming an important direction for lightweight design. To address this issue, the study analyzes and calculates its stress and deformation based on finite element analysis, and the results show that the CFRP lap bar does not exhibit obvious strain concentration, expected to have a longer service life. On the basis of these studies, the CFRP lap is prepared, and it is found that this substitution leads to a reduction in weight of 66.7%. In addition, three groups of fatigue tests are used to simulate its running state under nuclear load and overload, and acoustic emission (AE) technology is used to monitor it. The results show that there is no obvious damage in the tests of three different stages, and the reliability is strong, which verifies that the selection of carbon fiber materials can meet the requirements of bumpers.