Empirical model for impact response of motorcycle front spoked wheel-tyre assembly

Abstract

An experimental study on the response of the motorcycle front wheel-tyre assembly in a frontal impact was conducted. A topological approach was employed whereby the post-impact projected deformation area of the wheel was selected as the response variable. Design factors included in the design of experiment were impact speed (S), impact mass (M), inflation pressure level of the tyre (P), contact geometry of the striker (G), and the offset distance of the impact location from the axle (D). A 2v5-1 fractional factorial design with four replications was applied. Statistical software, Minitab version 13, was employed in the experimental design and data analysis. The impact tests were conducted using the in-house developed pendulum impact test rig. A factorial analysis was performed to identify the significant factors influencing the responses of the wheel-tyre assembly. It was found that the influential effects for the response, excluding the torn-off cases, are the main effects S, M, P, and D, and interaction effects SM and PG. On the other hand, for the response including the torn-off cases, the main effects are the same but the interaction effects are slightly different, namely SM, MD, MG, and PG. These factors were then incorporated in the establishment of the empirical models for predicting the impact response of the wheel-tyre assembly. Regression analysis was also carried out to evaluate the yielded empirical models. Curves demonstrating the behaviour of the wheel under various impact conditions investigated were generated based on the empirical models. A comparison was also made with the findings where maximum residual crush was the response variable.