The Finite-Element Numerical Simulation Of The Bench Test Of CAR A-Alloy Wheel

Less mass, higher strength and more beautiful appearance have become the key design conception of modern car manufacturing enterprise. A-alloy wheel is the important part of car. It not only has higher bearing capability, but also satisfies the individual designing demand of the whole appearance. And this design conception is adopted in the designing A-alloy wheel. If wheel manufacturing enterprises want to find way in the market and promote competitive power of products, it must change the traditional design approach that relies on experiences. Aiming at rotary fatigue test, radial fatigue test, impact test of some A-alloy wheels, the paper establishes the uniform, canonical and perfect finite element model with ANSYS and UG that is equivalent with the physical test of the wheel. In the finite element numerical simulation of rotary fatigue test, bolt pretension and contact relations of some loading components are considered. In the finite element numerical simulation of radial fatigue test, the rigid and flexible contact method is applied to deal with the contact relation between the rotary drum and the tire. In the finite element numerical simulation of impact test, the integrated finite element model is established, including impact block, wheel, tire, bracket, rubber pad and this model can simulate entire process of impact and obtain velocity, displacement and kinetic energy curves of the impact block, stress of the wheel and impact force curve in the course of impact. Moreover, the paper compares the results of numerical simulation with the results of physical test of the typical wheels. Owing to establishment of this finite element numerical simulation model, we can know the rotary fatigue life and radial fatigue life and impact intensity of A-alloy wheels before practical manufacture. So we can provide the important design guide for wheel design engineers so as to avoid the blind design, shorten the design period, improve the once pass ratio and largely reduce design expense. This FEA model can be the important guidance and useful in practice for the primitive design of car A-alloy wheels.