Fatigue Life Analysis of Aluminum HS6061-T6 Rims using finite element method

SenKai Lu, WenRu Wei

Department of Physics and Information Technology Guilin Normal College Guilin, China E-mail: lusk3616@163.com materials science and engineering, Guilin University of Technology Guilin, China E-mail: jiangyanli024@163.com E-mail: syyuliang@163.com

Liang Yu,Yanli Jiang,JunChuan Tan

Key laboratory of new processing technology for nonferrous metals & Materials, Ministry of Education College of

HongQiang RU
Key laboratory for anisotropy and texture of materials (MOE), Northeastern University Shenyang, China E-mail: ruhq@smm.neu.edu.cn during the T6 quench process and redistribution of residual stress due to the material removal at the machining stage [7]. By improved Smith formula, Yang, Cui and Zhao used finite element analysis of stress values as the basic parameters for wheels fatigue life prediction. The wheels bending fatigue test results verified the method [8]. In this paper, for predicting the aluminum alloy (Al) HS6061-T6 rim fatigue life, the Cosmos software was used to build the static load finite element model of aluminum rims and the nominal stress method was integrated to simulate the rotary fatigue test. II. FINITE ELEMENT MODELING EASE OF USE

AbstractThe Cosmos software was used to build the static load finite element model of bus aluminum HS6061-T6 rims for simulating the rotary fatigue test in this paper. In the finite elements analysis, the elements forming the meshes were hexahedral linear elements with eight nodes. The equivalent stress amplitude was calculated based on the nominal stress method by considering the effects of mean load, size, and fatigue notch, surface finish and scatter factors. The fatigue life of aluminum rims was predicted by using the equivalent stress amplitude and aluminum alloy rim S-N curve. The results showed that the rim life cycle was improved to over 1.0 105 and satisfied the design requirement. It indicated that the proposed method of finite element analysis was a good and efficient method to predict the fatigue life of aluminum rims. Keywords-aluminum HS6061-T6, rim, finite element analysis, static analysis, fatigue life

I.

INTRODUCTION

Buses, important favors of technological development, are widely used in daily life. Since rims, on which cars move, are the most vital elements in a vehicle, they must be designed carefully. The rims manufactured by various methods are made of either steel or cast aluminum alloys [1]. In particular, rims made of aluminum casting alloys are more preferred because of the weight and the cost effectiveness. Therefore, a reliable design is required to guarantee the service strength under operational conditions and full functioning of the rim [2]. Loads generated during the assembly may cause significant levels of stress in components [3, 4]. Finite element analysis is help for predicting of the critical stress area and fatigue life of aluminum rims. Raju et al. were concerned with generation of S-N curve for aluminum alloy (Al) A356.2-T6 and estimation of fatigue life under radial fatigue load. Finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out by simulating the test conditions to analyze the stress distribution and fatigue life of alloy wheels [5]. L M Wang et al. simulated fatigue life of aluminum A356 wheels by FEA using ABAQUS [6]. A mathematical model was developed to predict the residual stress distribution of an A356 alloy rim, taking into account the residual stress evolution

The aluminum alloy (high strength) HS6061-T6 is widely used in the wheel industry. The components of HS6061-T6 as the follow: Cu 0.15~0.4, Si 0.4~0.8, Fe 0.7, Mn 0.15, Mg 0.8~1.2, Zn 0.25, Cr 0.04~0.35, Ti 0.15.The mechanical performance of HS6061-T6 after special heat treatment in our experiment: tensile strength b 350 MPa, 0.2 180 MPa [9]. In this paper, the stress analysis was performed by using commercial FEA software COSMOS. COSMOS is powerful and fastest engineering finite element simulation software. The model of aluminum HS6061-T6 rim for the bus is shown in Fig.1a. The rim was meshed, and there are a total of 121876 elements. The stress concentration region corresponding grid distribution should be dense; but the rim the stress cannot consider nearly in the entire parsing process, the corresponding grid distribution should be sparse (shown in Fig. 1b). In the FEA model, loading and boundary conditions were set up similarly to those in the bench test. The rim was constrained around flange edge, loaded with the tyre, and fixed by bolts shown in Fig.1c. In aluminum alloy rim fatigue test 1 105 cycles were conducted. To simulate the cycle, there were 12 load cases, each interval was 30, and rim responses were calculated respectively. The directional 0 gave the positive direction of x axis from the original direction of cyclical loading force in the simulation. Then, the force loaded

978-1-4244-9171-1/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

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counterclockwise with an intersection of 30 which was sufficient to reflect the real stress distribution. (a)

(a)

(b) (b) (c)

Fig. 1. The model of aluminum HS6061-T6 rim of the bus (a) blueprint, (b) meshed model, (c)loaded boundary condition

Figs.2 The rim stress and stress local at the loading direction of [0] (a) outer, (b) inner

III.

STATIC ANALYSIS

IV.

FATIGUE ANALYSIS

When the rim endured the dynamic bending moment, load direction and maximum stress place changed over time. According to the process, the information of stress and location was calculated. As the rim structure was complex, Von Mises stress was used. The node with maximum rim stress at the 12 load cases was exactly the damage area. Fig.2 showed the rim stress and stress local at the loading direction of 0. The maximum stress was 162.1 MPa, which was in the hub, near the bolt holes area [10]. According to the bench test, this area was also where the crack damage occurred to the rim. Therefore, the result from the FEA was reliable. The principal stress was not considered in this location because Von Mises stress criteria was sufficient. According to the FEA results of the baseline design, the aluminum alloy rim design could be improved by reinforcing the weaker area and revising the geometry of rib and notch

A. S-N curve The main methods to determine the model fatigue life are fatigue life test and fatigue life analysis. Fatigue life test has a high-cost and long cycle. Fatigue life analysis is based on the fatigue properties of materials and load time histories. It can predict fatigue life at the product design stage, reduce the number of experimental prototypes, and shorten the development cycle. Fatigue life analysis includes nominal stress analysis, crack initiation analysis, stress-strain field intensity and energy law [11]. In this paper, a method that combined nominal stress analysis and static analysis was used to predict rim fatigue life. In high-cycle fatigue situations, materials performance is commonly characterized by an S-N curve, also known as a Wohler curve [12]. The basic material SN curve can be established in our simulation as depicted in Fig.3.The strength limit b of material HS6061-T6 is 350 MPa.

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The symmetrical bending fatigue limit be obtained as 1107.

-1

is 180 MPa. N0 can

B. Equivalent Cycle Stress and Fatigue Life Rim fatigue strength is determined by the maximum stress max and minimum stress min of weakness spot. Based on the nominal stress analysis for predicting rim fatigue life, weakness spot S-N curve is suitable to symmetrical loads. According to the influence of medium stress and fatigue strength decreasing coefficient, any asymmetric cycle stress has an equivalent cyclic stress amplitude e which can be calculatedly using Cosmos. Considering the equivalent stress ae in the component S-N curve, the value at abscissa is the fatigue life. The nominal stress method was used to predict the fatigue life of aluminum alloy rims. In the nominal stress method, the fatigue life of aluminum rims was predicted by using aluminum alloy rim SN curve and equivalent stress amplitude. Based on the previous static analysis results, equivalent symmetric cycle stress amplitude of maximum stress amplitude node can be calculated. Considering the equivalent stress in the component S-N curve, the fatigue life is obtained as shown in Fig5. (a)

Fig.3 Material S-N curve

Based on material S-N curve, component S-N curve can be obtained by considering size factor, fatigue notch factor, surface finish factor and scatter factor [13]. First, -1D is not corrected when N=1, 1 103. When N=N0, needs to divide fatigue strength coefficient K D. Then, the adjacent points are connected; the component S-N curve can be obtained without considering the scatter factor. The component S-N is calculated using the following Eq.1 [14].

lg

1 DN

lg

1D

lg N 0 lg N lg(0.9 b ) lg lg N 0 3
1 / K D,

1D

(1)
1

K
D

fN N

1
N

Where,

1DN

After all, N=1, 1103, 1104, using the divides scatter factor Ks1; N = 105, N0, using the divides scatter factor Ks2. Therefore, modified component S-N curve can be obtained by connecting two adjacent points, shown in Fig. 4.

(b)

Fig. 4 Component S-N curve

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(c)

a good and efficient method to predict aluminum alloy rims fatigue life. ACKNOWLEDGMENT (HEADING 5) This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning, China (No. 20072026), the Besic Research Fund for the Northeastern University (N090302005), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 20090451271), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50902018, No. 50872018,) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT0713). Province science and technology in the Guangxi offends pass item (1099043). REFERENCES
[1] [2] Fig5 The fatigue life of the rim (component S-N curve) (a) outer, (b) inner, (c) from back H. Akbulut, On optimization of a car rim using finite element method, Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, vol. 39, pp. 433443, 2003. M. Guo, R. Bhandarkar, and B. Lin, Clamp load consideration in fatigue lifeprediction of a cast aluminum rim using finite element analysis. Society of Automotive Engineer, Inc. Warrendale, Pennsylvania. 2004. Y. L. Hsu, S.-G. Wang, and T.-C. Liu, Prediction of fatigue failure of aluminum disc rim using the failure probabilitycontour based on historical test data. Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 551-558, 2004. P. Li, D.M. Maijer, T.C. Lindley, P.D. Lee, Simulating the residual stress in anA356 automotive wheel and its impact onfatigue life. Metallurgical and MaterialsTransactions B, vol. 38B, no. 8, pp. 505515,(2007). P. Ramamurty Raju, B. Satyanarayana, K. Ramji , K. Suresh Badu, Evaluation of fatigue life of aluminum alloy wheels under radial loads. Engineering Failure Analysis, vol. 14, pp. 791-800,2007. L. M. Wang, Y. F. Chen, C. Z. Wang, Q. Z. Wang, Fatigue Life Analysis of Aluminum Wheels by Simulation of Rotary Fatigue Test. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 31-39, 2011. Y. Zhanchun, C. Shengming, Z. Guifan, Prediction of automobile rim fatigue life with improved smith equation Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 100-102.,2000. H.M. Karandikar, Fatigue life prediction for rims by simulation of therotating bending test. Society of AutomotiveEngineer, Warrendale, Pennsylvania,1990. GB/T 1173-1995, Casting Aluminum Alloy. Z. Cuixia, Design and structural analysis of aluminum alloy wheel, Dissertation, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China. 2006. Xiaofeng, W., Zhao, L., Xiaoge, Z. (2007). Finite element analysis of a rim based on the rim dynamic cornering fatigue test. Tractor & Farm Transporter, vol. 34, no. 1,p. 45-47. R.I.Stephens, A.Fatemi, R.R. Stephens, H.O. Fuchs, A. Faterni, Metalfatigue in engineering, 2nd Edition, Wiley-Interscience, 2000. Yutao, Z. Aluminum alloy rim manufacturing technology, China Machine Press, Beijing, 2004. L. Pook, Metal fatigue: what it is,why it matters, solid mechanics and itsapplications, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2007.

The simulation result showed that the maximum stress was 229.5 MPa, which was in the hub, near the bolt holes area. According to the bench test, this area was also where the crack damage occurred to the rim. And the fatigue life exceeded 1 105 and satisfied the design requirement. Aluminum alloy rim rotary fatigue bench test was conducted. The test result showed that the prediction of fatigue life was consistent with the physical test result. These results indicate that the fatigue life simulation can predict weakness area and is useful for improving aluminum alloy rim. It also indicated that integrating and nominal stress method is a good and efficient method to predict aluminum alloy rims fatigue life. V. CONCLUSION

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

A fatigue lifetime prediction method of aluminum alloy rims was proposed to ensure their durability at the initial design stage. To simulate the rotary fatigue test, static load Remodel was built using COSMOS. The analysis results showed that the maximum stress was 229.5 MPa, which was located in the hub bolt holes area agreed with the fact. The nominal stress method was used to predict the fatigue life of aluminum HS6061-T6 alloy rims. In the nominal stress method, the fatigue life of aluminum wheels was predicted by using aluminum alloy wheel S-N curve and equivalent stress amplitude. The simulation result showed that fatigue life of rims exceeded 1 105 and satisfied the design requirement. These results indicate that the fatigue life simulation can predict weakness area and is useful for improving aluminum alloy rims. It means that using Cosmos is

[8]

[9] [10] [11]

[12] [13] [14]

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