Optimal strength design of composite bicycle wheels

Abstract

A high specific strength and specific stiffness are essential in high-performance bicycle wheel design. However, it is challenging for traditional materials to satisfy these trends, although advanced composite materials can be selected to simultaneously satisfy those requirements. This paper presents ply stacking sequence optimization for a composite bicycle wheel subjected to standard loading cases. In the design of a high performance composite bicycle wheel, the stacking sequence of composite plies in the wheel is an important parameter. The objective function for the optimization is to minimize the Tsai-Wu failure index. For optimal design, finite element analysis is conducted for a composite rim. Discrete ply-angle stacking sequence optimization was used for the development of a composite bicycle frame. The amount of change in the discrete ply orientation was 15°, and the limits of design variables were −180°<θ< 180°. The optimal stacking sequences to minimize the maximum failure index were determined, and the possible failure regions under different loading conditions were predicted. Numerical results showed that this algorithm can be effectively used for lay-up optimization of composite wheels.