Design and optimization of aluminium alloy wheel rim in automobile industry

The unsprung mass of a vehicle is an essential parameter for considering the effective handling of a vehicle. The higher the reduction in the unsprung mass, the higher the handling of the vehicle can be obtained. The part of a wheel that surrounds the circumference of the cylinder and serves as a support for the tyre is called the rim. The rim's primary purpose is to provide support for the tyre and to ensure that it is properly sealed to the wheel. The rim ensures that the tyre fits properly to the rim and maintains the air pressure within the tubeless tyre. The wheel rim is considered for optimization in this project. To reduce the vehicle's unsprung mass and evaluate its steerability, the wheel rim is designed in SolidWorks and the analysis is performed in Ansys academic 2021. The material used for analysis is aluminium alloy Al6061-T4 and the magnesium alloy is AZ80. The parameters such as the pitch circle diameter, lug nut pattern, and the thickness of the rim are considered parameters for design. The existing design is being studied and optimized to get a weight reduction of nearly 58.33 % without any compromise on the safety parameters of the rim. Considering the cost of the material, it is found that aluminium alloy is comparatively lower in cost than magnesium alloy.