Structural design and experimental investigation of a carbon fibre wheel for low consumption vehicle

Today, in the design of a new vehicle, one of the most important challenge is the weight reduction. This item is even more important in the design of prototype vehicles aimed to low consumption competitions, where it is necessary to minimize the weight of all components. For this reason the carbon fibre composite materials appear the best solution in terms of low density and mechanical properties. In this work the attention is focused on the wheel of the IDRA prototype, which participated in the Shell Eco Marathon competition. The wheel rim is a lenticular single part made of carbon fibre materials, without the use of structural adhesive. The different design steps, from the concept phase to structural analysis made by means of finite element code, are discussed. At the end the innovative manufacturing production process is presented