MODELING AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF ALLOY WHEEL USING ANSYS

Wheel spokes are the supports consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim with Carbon Fiber, Magnesium Alloy, Titanium Alloy and Aluminum Alloy. The two main types of motorcycle rims are solid wheels, in which case the rim and spokes are all cast as one unit, usually in Aluminum or magnesium alloys and the other spoke wheels, where the motorcycle rims are laced with spokes which require high spoke tension, since the load is carried by fewer spokes. If a spoke does break, the wheel generally becomes instantly un-ridable also the hub may break. Presently, for high cc bikes Magnesium wheels are used, due to its low heat resistance and micronisation of crystal grains, replacing it with Aluminum alloy. This Simulation work attempts to model the wheel of a two wheeler racing by using the CATIA Software, and conducting the tests: Static and Fatigue analysis using the ANSYS software by reducing the number of spokes from 5 to 4 for the existing model. Based on simulation work, a better material for alloy wheels may be analyzed from the results obtained and validated.