Research on Modeling and Lightweight of Automobile Hub

Fujian Yan

1, a

, Wei Xiong

1, b

Guilin University of Aerospace Technology, Jinji Road, Guilin, China

Keywords: Modeling, Lightweight, Hub.

Abstract: This paper studies the application of industrial design concept in automobile hub design, and uses the

localized design method to integrate Chinese cultural elements into the hub design and complete the creative

hub design. The radial load and bending moment load of the hub are analysed by finite element method to

verify the safety of the hub structure, and the lightweight design of the hub is carried out by analysing

different materials.

1 INTRODUCTION

The development of wheels has gone through a long

time. In ancient times, they were made of wood, but

now they are made of aluminium alloy. In some

western countries, the development history of

wheels can be traced back to a hundred years ago.

Aluminum alloy wheels appeared in 1920 (Yi, Deng

Li, 2012). They were originally manufactured by

sand casting and were only used in racing cars. In

1930, aluminium rolled rims and steel spoke wheels

were introduced and implemented in some simple

automobiles, which was a prerequisite for the

development of aluminium alloy wheels later. Due

to the impact of the global energy crisis, the

automotive industry has put forward an urgent need

for "lightweight", and aluminum alloy wheels have

begun to be widely used in ordinary automobiles

(Parry G, Roehrich, Jens, 2013).

China develops its own automobile brand by

drawing lessons from foreign advanced automobile

design and manufacturing technology. In order to

rapidly develop the automobile industry, China

constantly introduces foreign advanced technology

and cooperates with foreign enterprises. Therefore,

more and more automobile brands have entered

China and occupied the majority of the Chinese

automobile market. With the development of

domestic brands and the limitation of automobile

brand technology patents, Chinese manufacturers

have to pay high technology costs to foreign

enterprises. Therefore, it is of practical significance

to study the shape and lightweight of wheel hub for

the localization of automobiles.

2 MODELING DESIGN OF

AUTOMOBILE HUB

National culture is a culture created by a long-term

campaign and productive working country, which

brings together the wealth and resources of the

country. Chinese national culture is composed of 56

beautiful Chinese cultures. There are 56 different

cultures and related species, which are composed of

China's long-standing culture. Chinese elements are

built from Chinese national culture, which is a

symbol of Chinese national culture. In short, it is a

microcosm of national culture. It embodies the spirit

of national culture and is recognized by Chinese and

overseas Chinese.

2.1 Hub Modeling Scheme

Modeling design can choose words or graphics with

Chinese characteristics, contouring the selected

objects to reflect the characteristics of the selected

objects, and then simplifying their contours into

lines and graphics for early drawing design.

Scheme 1: The Chinese character "中" is used as

the design element, and "中" also represents a spirit

of the Chinese people. In ancient China, the doctrine

of the mean was regarded as a virtue by scholars and

the highest virtue by Confucianism. As shown in the

Figure 1.

Scheme 2: The design element is "flame" totem.

The ancients got inspiration from the sun and

created the decoration of "flame". The characteristic

of flame totem is circular, which conforms to the

Yan, F. and Xiong, W.

Research on Modeling and Lightweight of Automobile Hub.

DOI: 10.5220/0008849200150020

In Proceedings of 5th International Conference on Vehicle, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ICVMEE 2019), pages 15-20

ISBN: 978-989-758-412-1

design requirements of wheel hub. It refines and

simplifies the pattern form, and completes the design

conception of the early drawing. The fire in the

picture revolves around the center circle and is full

of dynamic feeling. There is a kind of combination

of rigidity and softness in the overall form, which is

in line with the Chinese aesthetics, and reflects the

concise sense of modern design. As shown in the

Figure 2.

Scheme 3: The design elements are "Pentagon"

pattern. "Pentagon" is a very solemn and sacred

pattern for Chinese people. The national flag of

China is a "five-star red flag" with Pentagon pattern.

The features of the pentagonal star pattern are

concise, clear and concise, and an outer circle can be

drawn on the pentagonal star, which is fully

connected with the pentagonal star. Therefore, the

pattern is very suitable for the shape characteristics

of the hub. As shown in the Figure 3.

Figure 1. "中"scheme.

Figure 2. "Flame" scheme.

Figure 3. "Pentagon" Scheme.

2.2 The Choice of Final Scheme for

Hub Modeling

When choosing the hub modeling scheme, the

method of questionnaire is used to select the hub.

Create a questionnaire about hub shape, and put the

model effect maps of three schemes into the

questionnaire, and release the questionnaire. The

results of the questionnaire are shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Questionnaire results.

3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

OF HUB BASED ON HIGH

STRENGTH STEEL

In this section, the hub material is Q460 high

strength steel, and its performance parameters are as

shown in Table 1.

Under the actual operating conditions, the

movement of the bolt hole surface is restricted in all

directions. Therefore, the surface of the bolt hole is

restricted, and the six degrees of freedom of the

conical surface of eight bolt holes are restricted.

ICVMEE 2019 - 5th International Conference on Vehicle, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering

3.1 Finite Element Analysis of Radial

Load

Taking a certain vehicle as an example, according to

the configuration parameters of the vehicle, the

vehicle's complete mass is 1278 kg, and the mass at

full load is 1800 kg. Then the vehicle's weight is W

= 12525N, and the load at full load is G = 17640N.

According to the fatigue test criteria of car wheels,

the maximum load on the hub is calculated by

formula (1).

(1)

ni - Load impact factor, with a value of 1.21 (LI

Qiushi, LI Simin, PAN Tianyu, 2018).

The maximum load of hub calculated by

substitution data is 7992N.

As can be seen from Figure 5, the maximum

displacement of the hub is 0.18062 mm, the

deformation is small, and the requirement of the hub

is that the strength and deformation are small, so the

stiffness of the hub meets the requirement. From

Figure 6, it can be seen that the maximum stress is

136.78 Mpa, which is less than 250 Mpa of cyclic

yield strength of high strength steel. Therefore,

under this load condition, the structure can operate

safely and steadily without yield failure, and the hub

strength meets the requirements.

Figure 5. Displacement nephogram.

Figure 6. Stress nephogram.

3.2 Finite Element Analysis of Bending

Moment Load

The moment M applied to the load is determined by

equation (2):

(2)

R-static load radius, 0.35;



-Friction coefficient,

0.7; D-Hub offset,0.035;S-Safety factor, 1.6 (Zhao O,

Gardner L, Young B, 2016).

The bending moment load of hub calculated by

substituting numerical value is 3581N.m.

As can be seen from Figure 7, the maximum

displacement of the hub is 0.48726 mm, the

deformation is small, and the rigidity of the hub

meets the requirements. From Figure 8, it can be

seen that the maximum stress is 188.45 Mpa, which

is less than 250 Mpa of cyclic yield strength of high

strength steel, and the hub strength meets the

requirements.

4 LIGHTWEIGHT DESIGN OF

WHEEL HUB BASED ON

ALUMINIUM ALLOY

In this section, the hub material is 6061 aluminium

alloy, and its performance parameters are as shown

in Table 2.

Research on Modeling and Lightweight of Automobile Hub

Figure 7. Displacement nephogram.

Figure 8. Stress nephogram.

4.1 Finite Element Analysis of Radial

Load

As can be seen from Fig.9, the maximum

displacement of the hub is 0.53664mm, the

deformation is small, and the rigidity of the hub

meets the requirements. It can be seen from Fig.10

that the maximum stress is 136.17 Mpa, which is

less than the cyclic yield strength of aluminum alloy

material 280 Mpa, and the hub strength meets the

requirements.

4.2 Finite Element Analysis of Bending

Moment Load

According to the analysis results, it can be seen from

the displacement nephogram that the maximum

displacement of the hub is 0.84975mm, the

deformation is small, and the rigidity of the hub

meets the requirements. From the stress nephogram,

it can be seen that the maximum stress is 202.21

Mpa, which is less than the cyclic yield strength of

aluminum alloy material 280 Mpa, and the hub

strength meets the requirements.

Figure 9. Displacement nephogram.

Figure 10. Stress nephogram.

5 COMPARISONS OF HUB

MATERIAL ANALYSIS

RESULTS

5.1 Comparison of Finite Element

Analysis Results

It can be seen from Table 3 that in the finite element

analysis of radial load and bending moment load, the

ICVMEE 2019 - 5th International Conference on Vehicle, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering

Table 1. Material properties of Q460 high strength steel.

Material

Density

(g/cm3)

Young's modulus

(MPa)

Yield strength

(MPa)

Tensile strength

(MPa)

Poisson ratio

Q460

7.85

2.06×105

460

550

0.35

Table 2. Material properties of 6061 aluminium alloy.

Material

Density

(g/cm3)

Young's modulus

(MPa)

Yield strength

(MPa)

Tensile strength

(MPa)

Poisson ratio

6061

2.77

7.1×104

280

310

0.33

maximum displacement deformation of the two

materials is smaller and the stiffness meets the

requirements, but the deformation of the aluminum

alloy is larger than that of the high strength steel; the

maximum stress of the two materials is smaller than

that of the cyclic yield strength of the material, so

the two materials are stronger. All degrees meet the

requirements. In the radial load, the maximum stress

of the two materials is basically the same, so the

strength of the two materials has little difference. In

the moment load, the maximum stress of the

aluminum alloy is greater than that of the high

strength steel. The reason for this phenomenon is

that the deformation of the aluminum alloy is larger

than that of the high strength steel, which leads to

the material need. It takes more force to restore

deformation under load. Aluminum alloy has better

toughness and impact strength than high strength

steel, so it is more suitable for use as hub material

than high strength steel.

5.2 Comparison of Finite Element

Analysis Results

As can be seen from Tab.4, the price of aluminium

alloy material is much higher than that of high

strength steel, while the cost of aluminium alloy in

manufacturing is lower than that of high strength

steel, while the quality ratio of aluminium alloy is

smaller. Therefore, the total cost of the two materials

is similar, and the total cost of aluminium alloy is

slightly higher than that of high light steel. However,

according to the comparative analysis of Table 1,

Table 2 and Table 3, the performance and economy

of aluminium alloy are better than that of high

strength steel.

Table 3. Comparison of finite element analysis results.

Material

Maximum

displacement(mm)

Maximum stress

radial

load

bending

moment

load

radial

load

bending

moment

load

steel

0.18062

0.48726

136.78

188.45

6061

0.53664

0.84975

136.17

202.21

Table 4. Material price comparison.

Material

Mass

ratio

Material

price

Manual

Hours Cost

Total

cost

steel

0.8

3.4

0.88

2.38

6061

0.56

8.2

0.56

2.54

6 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the aesthetics of industrial design, the hub

is modeled by extracting elements from traditional

Chinese culture. The strength performance of the

hub is analyzed by finite element analysis method.

Then, through the performance analysis and

comparison of different materials, the design method

of integration of hub modelling and lightweight is

discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is carried out with the support of Guangxi

Natural Science Foundation (2017JJB150073).

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Research on Modeling and Lightweight of Automobile Hub

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ICVMEE 2019 - 5th International Conference on Vehicle, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering