Fatigue life analysis of aluminum HS6061-T6 rims using finite element method

The 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.