Fatigue life analysis of aluminum wheels by simulation of rotary fatigue test

Abstract

To improve the quality of aluminum wheels, a new method for evaluating the fatigue life of aluminum wheels is proposed in this paper. The ABAQUS software was used to build the static load finite element model of aluminum wheels for simulating the rotary fatigue test. The equivalent stress amplitude was calculated based on the nominal stress method by considering the effects of mean load, size, fatigue notch, surface finish and scatter factors. The fatigue life of aluminum wheels was predicted by using the equivalent stress amplitude and aluminum alloy wheel S-N curve. The results from the aluminum wheel rotary fatigue bench test showed that the baseline wheel failed the test and its crack initiation was around the hub bolt hole area that agreed with the simulation. Using the method proposed in this paper, the wheel life cycle was improved to over 1.0×105 and satisfied the design requirement. The results indicated that the proposed method of integrating finite element analysis and nominal stress method was a good and efficient method to predict the fatigue life of aluminum wheels. © 2011 Journal of Mechanical Engineering. All rights reserved.