Computation of the Fatigue Life of Road Wheel with Double-Layer Rubber Flange

In order to increase the fatigue life (FL) of road wheels (RW), a kind of double layer rubber flange (DLRF) is put forward. It consists of two layers of rubber, where metal wires are laid in the inner layer and the outer layer has no inlaid metal wires. Stress, strain and temperature field of DLRF were calculated with ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA) software, FL of DLRF RW was also computed with fracture mechanics fatigue theory. The results of computation indicate that the heat generated in RW's rubber flange (RF) can be reduced by the use of DLRF, and the FL of RW can be increased without affecting the mechanical intensity of RW.