Study of Impact Forces on Wheel Rim from Pothole Impacts and Improvement of Flange Design to Eliminate Wheel Bend

Typically, an automotive passenger car wheel rim can withstand gradual loading contributed from the vehicle during cornering and high-speed maneuvering and as per the standard as well as customer requirements wheel has to withstand some impact forced contributed from radial and inclined loading. But in some cased wheel rim may not withstand the impact forces generated during impact on potholes and curbs with high-speed maneuvering. This Study helps to understand the impact on wheel rim and the forces acting on the rim flanges during pothole impact and high-speed curb impact. For In this study author tends to explain about the design of the rim flanges considering the impact forces the wheel rims are exposed to during pothole impact. Also in this study, road load data for a double pothole impact in electric vehicle with lightest alloy wheel rim in the segment is acquired to understand the loads acting on the rim. Based on the simulation iterations with several design changes and improvements on the flanges by increasing cross section as well as not compromising too much on the weight of the wheel rim design solution is identified. Simulation co relation for alloy wheels are not close to 100%, So the design solution is implemented for the proto part production and the same parts were tested in this double pothole impact and the wheel bend is eliminated.