Experimental and numerical investigation of dynamic cornering fatigue behavior of aluminum alloy passenger car wheels

The wheels which are one of the most important components of the vehicle's contact with the road, are critical elements that operate under static and dynamic loads. Due to severe working conditions, the maximum forces are calculated for each individual vehicle according to the specifications and standards of the relevant test in the design stage. Depending on the calculated forces various analyzes and mechanical tests are carried out after sample production. Dynamic corner fatigue test, double axis fatigue test, radial fatigue test, 13 ° impact test, 90 ° impact test, inner flange deformation test, ZWARP test are some of these tests. Under road conditions the wheels are exposed to variable, combined and periodic loads originating from the road and vehicle. Fatigue damage on the wheel can be observed when critical repetitions are reached under these combined loads. In this study, the fatigue conditions of wheels were investigated using Taguchi method experiment design, screening experiment design and general factorial experiment design according to ISO 3006:2105 dynamic bending fatigue standard by Ansys Workbench 18.0 package program. Design of experiment allows us to see the effect of one or more parameters on the result by performing the least number of experiments. The effects of 15 geometric parameters such as wheel size, spoke thickness, bead seat width, which affect the dynamic fatigue strength of the wheel was investigated and thee parameter were optimized to be in minimum weight – minimum stress as a result of this study.