Experimental Study of the Fatigue Life of Off-Highway Steel Wheels Using the Rim Section Test Approach

Wheels are structural components designed to sustain dynamic loads and avoid fatigue failures in service. For their validation, when standard fatigue tests are not feasible due to premature tyre wear, alternative methods should be used. In this paper, the rim section test approach is evaluated for the fatigue life assessment of steel rims for off-highway wheels. Customized specimens were studied by finite element analysis and subjected to bending fatigue tests to obtain the fatigue curve for the critical point of the rim. The results were also compared to fatigue data from standard tests of the base material, confirming the importance of testing components in conditions as similar as possible to the final ones in service. Additional measurements of the specimens’ surface hardness showed how this approach is valid to consider the effects of possible work hardening induced in the components by the production process. The residual stress state, instead, does not seem to be considered appropriately, since the initial compressive residual stresses of the component were released during the manufacturing of the specimens. The overall results of the study confirmed the suitability of the section test approach as an alternative method for the fatigue life evaluation of structural components. Moreover, it could be used for specific investigations concerning the influence of the production process parameters on wheel rims.