Design and Fatigue Analysis of Automobile Disc Wheel by using Finite Element Analysis

The wheel is an integral part of any automobile. Design of wheel under various loads is to be studied for practical application to ensure safety and smooth running. Here, wheel is subjected to brake loads and mechanical loads due to weight of the vehicle. In cars, Disc brakes and Drum brakes are generally used on front wheels and rear wheels respectively. Due to application of brakes large amount of heat is generated which is distributed across the wheel section. The objective of the present work is to analyse the stresses induced in the given wheel design due to braking loads and structural loads .For this work, Linear thermal analysis with temperature dependent material properties and Linear static analysis has been performed using finite element software such as ANSYS. The heat generated by the braking is applied as loading and convective heat transfer has been applied as loading and convective heat transfer has been given as external boundary condition. The temperature plots at various regions are reported. The stress analysis is carried out by switching thermal analysis to structural analysis and Von misses stresses are plotted. Further, the analysis is also extended to static loading on the wheel. In this, 3D model is generated and this full model is meshed with a 3D solid element, the deflections and stresses are plotted. In static analysis we are considering the loads due to weight of the vehicle, side thrust and pressure due to application of brakes. Finally the stability of the wheel is discussed with the plotted results.