Wheel Fatigue

Numerical analysis of wheel cornering fatigue tests
U. Kocabicak *, M. Firat
University of Sakarya, Faculty of Engineering, Esentepe Kampusu, Adapazari, Turkey
Received 25 May 1999; accepted 2 July 2000
Abstract
In automotive engineering, the wheels are one of the most critical components and their function is of vital
importance n human safety. The cornering fatigue test is one of the traditional durability tests for wheel prototype
verication. In this paper, a bi-axial loadnotch strain approximation for proportional loading is proposed to estimate
the fatigue life of a passenger car wheel during the cornering fatigue test under plane stress conditions. The elasto-
plastic strain components are calculated analytically using the total deformation theory of plasticity. The input for the
loadnotch strain analysis is the measured or calculated plastic strain state at the notch together with the materials
stabilised cyclic stressstrain curve evaluated with unnotched tension specimens. The damage accumulation is based on
the PalmgrenMiner rule. The methodology is implemented in a program called ``Metal Fatigue Prediction and Ana-
lysis'' (MFPA). The life prediction of a passenger car wheel during the cornering fatigue test is performed. The results
of the analysis is compared with two cornering tests on the same design. The result is very encouraging and the appli-
cation of the developed MFPA program provides time and the cost savings in the analysis of wheel cornering fatigue
tests. #2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Fatigue assessment; Automotive design; Fatigue testing; Finite element analysis
1. Introduction
In automotive engineering, the wheels are one of the most critical components and their function is of
vital importance in human safety. With the changing requirements in the automotive industry in the last
decade, the wheel manufacturers have been taking increasing attention to lightweight designs by new
materials and manufacturing technologies in contradiction to durability concerns due to the complex
loading conditions on wheels. Knowing that an average design period is 6 months or more depending on
the requirements, iterations must be reduced at the physical prototype level and increased during virtual
prototyping with a reliable methodology to predict the durability parameters, such as the fatigue life,
during the sign-o tests.
In the fatigue evaluation of a wheel design, the commonly accepted procedure for wheel manufacturers is
to pass two durability tests, namely the radial fatigue test and the cornering fatigue test [13]. In addition to
1350-6307/01/$ - see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PI I : S1350- 6307( 00) 00031- 5
Engineering Failure Analysis 8 (2001) 339354
www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-264-346-0350; fax: +90-264-346-0351.
E-mail address: umit@esentepe.sau.edu.tr (U. Kocabicak).
these tests, LBF-Germany [4,5] has designed the Biaxial Wheel Fatigue Test and its test machine is
intended to perform the combined radial and lateral cyclic loading to simulate the loads on road more
accurately.
The main objective in fatigue analysis is to predict the accumulated number of cycles at which a small
crack (such as 0.5 mm for mild steel) appears at a stress raising geometrical feature. The fatigue failure is
related to the initiation and subsequent growth of these small cracks under repeated loading and unloading
and the elasto-plastic stress state at the stress raising geometrical feature, or equivalently the notch, must be
analyzed in order to determine the deformation parameters describing the cyclic hysteresis loops [68].
Because of the lack of closed-form analytical solutions for the notch stress state in real life components, the
notch stressstrain approximation and related methods are used for the fatigue analysis.
The material deformation under cyclic loading is described with the Masing Plus Memory hypothesis
which is equivalent to the kinematic hardening theory of plasticity [911]. This model approximates accu-
rately the material stabilized deformation curve observed during cyclic testing with the unnotched speci-
men. It does not account for cyclic hardening, cyclic softening, cyclic creep or relaxation behavior of the
material during the initial few hundred cycles. The uniaxial loadnotch strain approximation due to Neu-
ber and Seeger-Heuler is coupled with Masing Plus Memory hypothesis and uniaxial rainow counting is
developed [1216]. Due to restriction of the uniaxial stressstrain state assumption at the notch, the multi-
axial notch stressstrain approximations for proportional and non-proportional loading is developed [17
27].
In this paper, a biaxial loadnotch strain approximation for proportional loading is proposed to estimate
the fatigue life of thin sheet metals under plane stress conditions. The elasto-plastic strain components are
calculated analytically using the total deformation theory of plasticity [28,29]. The input for the loadnotch
strain analysis is the measured or calculated plastic strain state at the notch together with the materials
stabilized cyclic stressstrain curve evaluated with unnotched tension specimens. The damage accumula-
tion is based on the PalmgrenMiner rule. Fatigue analysis software is developed and the fatigue failure of
a passenger car wheel under the cornering fatigue test is predicted. The results of the analysis are compared
with two cornering tests on the same design.
2. Critical stresses in a wheel
The stress distribution in a wheel depends on the mode of operation and the stress at any point in the
wheel is composed of prestresses and service stresses. The stress due to the manufacturing process, tire
pressure and assembly to the hub are the prestress on the wheel. The service stresses are result of the wheel
loads which are the vertical force F
v
composed of static load due to the vehicle weight and dynamic forces
developed passing road irregularities such as potholes when driving straight, the lateral force F
L
due to the
quasi-static cornering forces as the most important ones. The longitudinal forces developed during braking
and acceleration as well as the wheel aligning moments are considered considered to be of secondary
importance. The highly stressed regions in a disk type wheel are the rim well, weld zone between disk and
cooling holes, bolt contact area and hat radius (see Fig. 1).
3. The cornering fatigue test
The cornering fatigue test is one of the traditional durability tests for prototype verication. Fig. 2
represents the cornering fatigue test set-up. The aim of the test is to simulate the dynamic loading of the
wheel during cornering on the road. The relevant forces acting on the wheel are a combination of the ver-
tical load and lateral force developed between tire and ground. The two components of loading result in a
340 U. Kocabicak, M. Firat / Engineering Failure Analysis 8 (2001) 339354
rotating bending moment on the hub of the wheel. During the test, a constant or variable amplitude
bending moment is applied to the wheel. The bending moment is calculated as
M
b
F
R
d F
L
R 1
together with
Fig. 1. Critically stressed regions on a wheel.
Fig. 2. Cornering fatigue test set-up.
U. Kocabicak, M. Firat / Engineering Failure Analysis 8 (2001) 339354 341
F
L
F
R
2
where: F
R
= radial force acting on the wheel, F
L
= lateral force acting on the wheel, = coecient of
friction between the ground and tire, R = radius of the statically loaded tire mounted on the wheel, d =
wheel oset.
The acceptable service life of a wheel on a passenger car is considered as more than 10,000,000; however
the total time during cornering fatigue testing must be reasonably short and to achieve this the service
loads are increased with factors given in international standards such as SAE, DIN or ISO [15]. The
detailed procedure of the cornering fatigue test can be found in the standards.
4. Fatigue analysis of wheels
Disk type wheels are mechanical components produced by forming a thin sheet with stamping dies gen-
erally in three or four stages. In cornering fatigue test the whole component is under plane stress conditions
except at the bolt contact region and rim clamping region. Due to the wheel geometry, a reference section
for a nominal stress and even a pure notch cannot be dened. The only apparent stress raisers are the bolt
and the cooling holes on the wheel. Another point is the multi-axial stress state over the wheel which makes
the application of uniaxial local load notch strain approximations due to Neuber or Seeger-Heuler dicult
to apply. Consequently, multi-axial loadnotch strain analysis must be employed. Regarding the loading in
the cornering fatigue test the only load acting is the bending moment through the hub of the wheel which
brings about a proportional loading.
In predicting the number of cycles in a cornering fatigue test, the crack initiation life is the primary issue
and the following statements should be addressed: (a) nding the crack initiation location(s) over the wheel
during the test; (b) evaluating the local stressstrain history at the critical locations.
In fact both of the above questions can be answered in an elasto-plastic nite element analysis using a linear
or non-linear kinematic hardening material lawwith isotropic von Mises yield criterion. Nevertheless, the nite
element analysis of the cornering fatigue test takes a few years in order to complete 10
6
cycles.
On the other hand, elasto-plastic nite element analysis with monotonic loading can be used to deter-
mine the realistic loadnotch strain curve at the critical locations on the wheel. In the subsequent sections,
a stepwise procedure will be presented in which the elasticplastic stressstrain history at any critical
location of a wheel during cornering fatigue testing can be approximated from the materials stabilised
cyclic loadnotch strain curve and the bending moment history.
5. Loadnotch strain analysis
The geometry of the wheel and the boundary conditions applied during the cornering fatigue test allows
two simplications in conducting a loadnotch strain approximation, the plane stress together with the
single external load, the cornering bending moment applied to the hub of the wheel. There is no apparent
reference section in the wheel and therefore the reference stress, a pseudo stress
e
, is dened as the stress
tensor calculated by elastic nite element analysis. Since the only external load is the wheel bending
moment (M) the following equations hold [17].
e
x
L
x
M 3
e
y
L
y
M 4
e
xy
L
xy
M 5
where L
x
, L
y
and L
z
are proportionality constants. During straining the rate of change of the deviatoric
stress components remains constant due to the single external load which is the bending moment. This type
of loading in plasticity theory is called proportional loading. Therefore, the total deformation theory of
plasticity can be used in approximating the elasto-plastic notch analysis for the wheel. Another point is the
plane stress state over the wheel except at rim clamping and hub bolt areas during loading. In this case the
total deformation theory can be solved analytically [17].
Hencky proposed the following total stressplastic strain relations by which the total plastic strain
components are related to the current stress [28].
"
P
ij

3
2
S
ij
q
"
P
q
6
where
q
is the eective stress and "
P
q
is the eective total plastic strain. S
ij
is the deviatoric stress compo-
nents. By (3)(5), an eective pseudo stress can be dened as
e
q
M
L
2
x
L
2
y
L
x
L
y
3L
2
xy
_
7
The equivalent plastic strains are computed using the equivalent loadtotal notch strain curve given
functionally as
"
t
q
f
e
q
_ _
f L
q
M
_ _
8
The function f in (8) may be evaluated by a static elasto-plastic nite element analysis or by strain
measurement during the static loading.
By using the stabilised cyclic stressstrain curve of the material, the real eective stress
q
is determined
(see Fig. 3).
"
t
q
g
a
;
q
g
1
"
t
q
_ _
9
Then eective total plastic strain at the notch and plastic strain components are
"
p
q
"
t
q
"
t
q
"
t
q
q
E
10
"
p
x

L
x
0:5L
y
L
q
"
p
q
11
"
p
y

L
y
0:5L
x
L
q
"
p
q
12
"
p
z

1
2
L
x
L
y
_ _
L
q
"
p
q
13
"
P
xy

3
2
L
xy
_ _
L
q
"
p
q
14
Also inverting (6), the notch deviatoric stress components are computed as:
S
ij

2
3
"
p
ij
"
p
q
P
q
15
Since the normal stress must be zero the hydrostatic stress can be computed from
z
0 s
z
16
The stress components are:
x

L
x
L
q
q
17
y

L
y
L
q
q
18
Fig. 3. Material stressstrain curve and loadnotch strain curve.
xy

L
xy
L
q
q
19
The total strain at the notch becomes:
"
t
x

L
x
vL
y
L
q
"
e
q
L
x
0:5L
y
L
q
"
p
q
20
"
t
y

L
y
vL
x
L
q
"
e
q
L
y
0:5L
x
L
q
"
p
q
21
"
t
y
v
L
x
L
y
L
q
_ _
"
e
q
L
x
L
y
L
q
_ _
"
p
q
22
"
t
xy
1 v
L
xy
L
q
"
e
q
3
2
L
xy
q
"
p
q
23
where "
e
q
is the eective elastic strain
"
p
q

q
E
24
By examining the total strain components we note the following points:
a. All rational terms are constant over the wheel. By performing a linear static nite element analysis
with unit bending moment, all the rational terms may be processed to evaluate their distributions on
the wheel. This postprocessing step also enables one to lter the critical locations from the whole of
the component.
b. The only independent variable entering to the equations is the eective stress
q
. This is more obvious
if the material stabilised cyclic stressplastic strain curve is given with a function
q
K "
p
q
_ _
n
:
Following the work of Ko ttgen et al. the evaluation of load notchstrain analysis is called a
e
based
approach and consists of the following steps [18];
a. Determine the proportionality constants L
x
, L
y
, L
xy
in a cornering fatigue test with linear static nite
element analysis for unit bending moment.
b. Determine the
e
q
"
t
q
curve for the critical locations on the wheel for monotonic elasto-plastic nite
element analysis with isotropic von Mises yield criterion.
c. Compute the history of the stress tensor
e
ij
t from (3)(5). In the case of constant amplitude loading
they are
e
x
M:L
x
sin !t 25
e
y
M:L
y
sin !t 26
e
xy
M:L
xy
sin !t 27
d. Apply this history to evaluate the eective strain history. Also by using the material stabilised stress-
strain curve, the history of plastic strain history is calculated.
e. Compute the stress component history by (13)(16).
Having determined all the stress and strain components the ``Masing Plus Memory'' model for cyclic
deformation behaviour is used to determine the hysteresis loop developed in the material. The stabilised
cyclic stressstrain curve for the wheel material is described by the RambergOsgood equation [12]
"
t
a
g
a

a
E

K
_ _
1=n
28
where the subscript indicates the alternating quantities and K, n are cyclic hardening coecient and cyclic
hardening exponent respectively. For the hysteresis branches the same function g is used with the sub-
stitution
" 2g

2
_ _
29
with
" "
max
"
min
30

max
min
31
The accumulation of damage is calculated with the PalmgrenMiner rule [12]. The hysteresis parameter
" and the number of occurrences of this parameter n
i
is determined. Then the total accumulated damage
is calculated as
D
k
i1
n
i
N
i
32
where N
i
is the read-o for each "
on the constant amplitude strainlife curve of the material. The

functional description of constant amplitude life curve is given:
"
t
a
"
e
a
"
p
a

f
E
2N
b
"
f
2N
c
33
where: "
a
=strain amplitude, "
e
a
=elastic strain amplitude, "
p
a
=plastic strain amplitude,
f
=fatigue strength
coecient, b=fatigue strength exponent, "
f
=fatigue ductility coecient, c=fatigue ductility exponent.
Fig. 4. The ow chart of developed MFPA program.
6. The developed program (MFPA)
In order to predict the number of cycles leading to failure in the wheel, based on the methodology
mentioned above a computer program called MFPA (Metal Fatigue Prediction and Analysis) is pre-
pared using the C programming language is developed. The ow chart of MFPA is given in Fig. 4.
7. Damage calculation of a passenger car wheel for cornering fatigue test
The life of a wheel made up of RQST37 steel sheet of thickness 3 mm is estimated using the proposed
methodology. The following material properties are used in the calculation: E, elastic modulus=214 GPa;
v, Poisson's ratio=0.28;
y,
yield stress in tension=185 MPa.
The stabilised cyclic stressstrain curve is
"
t
a
g
a

a
214:10
9

1:02:10
9
_ _
6:14
34
The constant amplitude strainlife curve of the material is
"
t
a
4:29417:10
3
N
0:053
0:5338 N
0:659
35
As the rst step, a linear elastic nite element analysis with unit bending moment is performed. The
proportionality constants in (3)(5) are determined (see Figs. 5 and 6). Then an elasto-plastic nite element
Fig. 5. The L
x
distribution on the wheel.
Fig. 7. The eective plastic strain distribution on the 22.5
o
section.
Fig. 6. The L
q
distribution on the wheel.
Fig. 9. The hysteresis loop at point 1 developed initially.
Fig. 8. The loadnotch curve at points 1, 2, 3.
analysis with isotropic strain hardening is conducted for a wheel bending moment of 3070 N m. In the
calculation, the loading is done in 25 increments and the residual force criterion is used in terminating the
equilibrium iterations with an error level of 0.001 [30]. Postprocessing the eective plastic strains (Fig. 7),
the loadnotch strain curve(s) over the wheel is evaluated. The resulting curves at points 1, 2, 3 are given in
Fig. 8.
Examining the loadnotch strain curves given in Fig. 8, the maximum relative dierence between these
three curves is less than 10%. Although it is possible to use a dierent loadnotch strain curve at every
critical point over the wheel, if one applies a single universal curve during the cyclic deformation modeling
with the Masing Plus model, the computations are considerably reduced.
Having determined all the relevant coecients in (3)(33) and the loadnotch strain curves, all the stress
components and elasticplastic strain components may be calculated for each load cycle and the corre-
sponding hysteresis parameter "
a
stored as a damage parameter. Fig. 9 shows the hysteresis loop developed
at point 1 and Fig. 10 shows the principle stresses at the same point. Fig. 11 represents the measured
dynamic strain history at three critical locations. For each "
a
stored, the relevant N
i
is read-o from the
curve given by (35) and the current damage is evaluated by (34). The cycle at which the damage function
given by (32) equals 1, gives failure.
The prototypes are tested with a cornering moment of 3070 N m. The life times are determined as
489,780 and 512,450 resulting in an average value of 501,115 cycles. The failure locations are determined as
the cooling hole radius (around point 2) and hat radius region (point 1).
Fig. 10. The principal stresses at point 1.
Both locations are detected even with the linear elastic FEA, however the strain amplitude based on this
solution is 0.005967 and the life predicted is underestimated by 46%. On the other hand, following the
proposed methodology the number of cycles leading to failure at point 1 is estimated as 435,634, resulting
in 11% error, and at point 2 is 454,768, resulting in 11% error. The calculated cumulative cycles for failure
is given in Fig. 12.
Fig. 11. The measured dynamic strain history at three critical locations.
8. Conclusion
A bi-axial loadnotch strain curve approximation is proposed based on single proportional loading
condition. Pseudo stress coecient histories are calculated via linear static FE analysis with unit load.
Elasto-plastic FE analysis with isotropic hardening gives the
e
q
"
q
curve at the critical locations. Total
stressstrain relations combined with the material stabilised stressstrain curve enables the calculation of
true stress histories. The hysteresis branch for each cycle is mapped onto the
q
a
"
q
a
plane according to the
Masing Plus Memory deformation model. The damage accumulation is based on the PalmgrenMiner
rule.
The methodology is implemented in a program called MFPA. The life prediction of a passenger car
wheel during the cornering fatigue test is performed. The predicted life shows only an 11% error with
respect to the physical test results conducted on two prototypes. The result is very encouraging and it can
be stated that the MFPA program will be a powerful tool to predict the fatigue life of passenger car wheels
during the cornering fatigue test.
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Numerical analysis of wheel cornering fatigue tests

on the constant amplitude strainlife curve of the material. The

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