Influence of Material and Spoke Pattern on the Performance of Automotive Wheels

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports a computational approach espoused to investigate the influence of material and spoke design variations on the structural rigidity of automobile wheels under static conditions. Three different spoke patterns (pattern new, pattern truck and pattern ellipse) with three materials (chromium stainless steel, advanced high strength steel and Al 7075/BN/ Al2O3 squeeze cast hybrid nanocomposite – T6) are considered in this study to explore the prospects of developing lightweight wheels for automobile applications to achieve fuel economy and energy incentives. Though there are variations in spoke designs, the same rim dimensions are followed for all computational models to eliminate the effect of rim design on the output responses. The spoke design with different materials are simulated under the same loading conditions using ANSYS 15.0 and comparative evaluation report in terms of stress, strain and displacement are generated and presented. In addition, the areas of stress concentration on individual models are identified and suitable design modifications are also proposed.