International Journal of Innovative and Emerging Research in Engineering

Volume 2, Issue 4, 2015

36

Available online at www.ijiere.com

International Journal of Innovative and Emerging

Research in Engineering e-ISSN: 2394 - 3343 p-ISSN: 2394 - 5494

A study on structural health of bicycle frame

using Finite Element Analysis Bharati A. Tayadea, T.R.Deshmukhb

a PG student, Department of Mechanical Engineering

PRMIT&R Badnera, Amravati, India

tayade.bharati3@gmail.com bProfessor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

PRMIT& R Badnera, Amravati, India.

trdeshmukh@mitra.ac.in

ABSTRACT:

Frame is very important part of bicycle as all the important accessories are mounted on the frame. The frame

need to be very strong, stiff and light in weight, which is obtained by combining different materials and

optimizing its shapes. The strength of frame construction is correct design of a frame because it is the most

important part that ensures safe riding. This paper deals with the various design of bicycle frame. The

modeling of bicycle frame is done in Computer Aided Design software CATIA and analysis of frame is done

using the analysis software Ansys. This analysis is done by considering conditions like static start up, steady

state paddling, vertical impact, horizontal impact, rear wheel braking etc. This paper gives us the stress,

strain, factor of safety of particular bicycle frame.

Keywords: CATIA, FEA, Ansys, Bicycle frame, Impact.

I. INTRODUCTION

The innovation in the design of bicycle frame is still going on, the reason behind this is that the manufacturers and

construction designers have innovative ideas related to minimize aerodynamic drag, to improve comfort, minimizing the

mass of the frame, maximizing lateral stiffness in the load transfer from the hands and feet to the drive, maximizing the

strength capabilities of the frame to allow for a higher load capacity or better load distribution, and adjusting the vertical

compliance of the frame to tune the softness of the ride [1,2] that are needed to provide rider comfort and safety

ride. Most modern bicycle frames have the simple form. This shape emerged in about 1895 following several decades

of vigorous development and evolution and it remained as basically unchanged since that time [3]. The trial and error

method is used at that time but this method does not provide the relevant result and the intuition made is not necessarily

all time correct so there is need of software that provide a way to get direct and appropriate result. This ultimately saves

the cost and time of manufacturer. The solution is provided by Finite Element Analysis (FEA). FEA is a computational

technique used to obtain approximate solutions of boundary value problems in engineering. Simply, a boundary value

problem is a mathematical problem in which one or more dependent variables must satisfy a differential equation

everywhere within a known domain of independent variables and satisfy specific conditions on the boundary of the

domain. Boundary value problems are also sometimes called field problems. The field is the domain of interest and most

often represents a physical structure. The field variables are the dependent variables of interest governed by the

differential equation. The boundary conditions are the specified values of the field variables on the boundaries of the

field. Depending on the type of physical problem being analyzed, the field variables may include physical displacement,

temperature, heat flux, and fluid velocity to name only a few [4].

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

As far back as 1986, Peterson and Londry (1986) used FEA to fine-tube the design of the Trek 2000 aluminium

frame using two other designs (steel, aluminum) as performance benchmarks for mass, strength and stiffness

characteristics. The model used beam elements to represent the tubular frame structure (excluding forks) with a variety

of loading conditions to all frames to calculate their response characteristics [5]. In 1999,D. Arola et.al. explained the

method used for an experimental evaluation of unique Prototype Bicycle motocross (BMX) frame [6]. In 2009,

Thomas Jin-Chee Liu, Huang-Chieh Wu in their discussed the fiber direction and stacking sequence design for the

bicycle frame of the carbon/epoxy composite laminates [7]. Alexandre Callens, André Bignonnet the methodology

used for validation of bicycle frames and the fatigue strength prediction is excellent when compared to the standard

tests [8]. The work presented by Derek Covill, et.al. outlined a FE model using beam elements to represent a standard

road bicycle frame. The model simulates two standard loading conditions to quantify the vertical compliance and

International Journal of Innovative and Emerging Research in Engineering

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lateral stiffness characteristics of 82 existing bicycle frames [9]. Recently in 2014, M. V. Pazare deals with the stress

analysis of bicycle frame by using Finite Element Method. The analysis of frame is carried out in ANSYS software,

and the F.E.A. results are compared with theoretical results. And it is found that there is good agreement between

analytical and F.EA results [3].

III. METHODOLOGY

The methodology used in this paper consists of modeling the bicycle frame in CATIA software and analyze the frame

using the analysis software Ansys. In this paper the sample analysis of frame of Falcon Avon is presented here. CATIA

is software which is used for creation and modifications of the objects. In CATIA, the design and modeling feature is

available. Design means the process of creating a new object or modifying the existing one. Drafting means the

representation or idea of the object. Modeling means creation 2D to 3D model. By using CATIA software, create the

model of the bicycle frame. The modeling of various frames in CATIA is as follows.

3.1. Modeling of bicycle frame

Figure 3.1: Modeling of Falcon Avon bicycle frame Figure 3.2: Modeling of Sunami bicycle frame

Figure 3.3: Modeling of Foster bicycle frame Figure 3.4: Modeling of Miss India Hero bicycle frame

3.2. Analysis requirement

After modeling the analysis of frame is done in Ansys Software, for that purpose After preparing the model in CATIA

it is improved to ANSYS, the file is imported from CATIA by file>import>IGES. To carry out the analysis various

conditions are consider like, Static start up, Steady state pedaling, Vertical impact, Horizontal impact, Rear wheel

braking. The input data for the analysis of bicycle frame Material IS2039 is as follows:

Young’s modulus: 2.e+005 MPa

Poisson’s ratio = 0.31

Density = 7.75e-006 kg/m3

Tensile Yield Strength =320 MPa

Tensile Ultimate Strength= 400 MPa

Physics type = Structural

Analysis type= Static structural, Solver target= Ansys mechanical

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Force applied in various conditions:

(A) (B)

(C) (D)

(E)

Figure 3.5 (A)Static start up (B) Steady state pedaling (C)Vertical impact (D)Horizontal impact (E)Rear

wheel braking

IV. RESULT ANALYSIS

The analysis of bicycle frame named Falcon (Avon) size

50.5cm (20") is done using following condition as follows:

4.1. Static start up

(A) (B)

(C) (D)

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Fig. 4.1(A) Deformation (B) Vin Mises Stresses (C) Strain (D) Factor of safety

4.2. Steady state pedaling

(A) (B)

(C) (D)

Figure 4.2 (A) Deformation (B) Von Mises stress (C) Strain (D) Factor of safety

4.3 Vertical Impact

(A) (B)

(C) (D)

Figure 4.3 (A) Deformation (B) Von Mises stresses (C) Strain (D) Factor of safety

4.4. Horizontal impact

. (A) (B)

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(C) (D)

Figure 4.4 (A) Deformation (B) Von Mises stress (C) Strain (D) Factor of safety

4.5. Rear wheel braking

(A) (B)

(C) (D)

Figure 4.5 (A) Deformation (B) Von Mises stress (C) Strain (D) Factor of safety

Results in tabular form:

TABLE I

Conditions

Total

Deformati

on

Equivalent

Elastic Strain

Equivalent (von-Mises)

Stress

Static start

up

1.9931e-002

mm

8.1359e-005

mm/mm 16.272 MPa

Steady state

pedaling

1.554e-002

mm

1.0228e-004

mm/mm 20.456 MPa

Vertical

impact

4.1937e-002

mm

2.7646e-004

mm/mm 55.292 MPa

Horizontal

impact 0.10109 mm

3.1421e-004

mm/mm 62.842 MPa

Rear wheel

braking 1.6719 mm

2.7345e-004

mm/mm 54.689 MPa

V. CONCLUSION

From the results of FEA, it is apparent that the stresses induced in the bicycle frame of Falcon Avon is least

and the factor of safety is also well above the limit. Also the Von Mises stresses are less than ultimate strength for the

material. Thus the design of bicycle frame is sturdy. The use of Ansys software makes the process of calculation fast

and several iterations are permissible to arrive at the best possible results. The results are relevant provided the

assumptions and boundary conditions are perfect.

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References

[1] Andrew L. Hastert, Benjamin F. Barger, and Justin T. Wood,“Finite Element Analysis of a Sandwich

Composite Bicycle Frame”.www.labmilwaukee.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/08/bikefea.pdf Pages 6.

[2] Artur Cichański,Tomasz Tomaszewski, “NUMERICAL VERIFICATION OF QUASI-STATIC

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www.polishcimac.pl/Papers3/2010/002.pdf, Faculty of ocean engineering and ship technology, GDANSK,

University of Technology, Pages 6.

[3] Mr. M. V. Pazare “Stress Analysis of Bicycle Frame”, International Journal of Engineering Science and

Technology (IJEST), ISSN: 0975-5462 Vol. 6 No.6 Jun 2014, Pages 287-294.

[4] David. V. Hutton, “Fundamental of Finite Element Analysis” .published by McGraw hill publication,

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Enthusiast, 1986 Vol 5, No. 2.

[6] D. Arola, P. G. Rainhall, M .G. Jenkins, S.C. Iverson, An Experimental analysis of hybrid Bicycle frame”,

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[7] Thomas Jin-Chee Liu, Huang-Chieh Wu, “Fiber direction and stacking sequence design for bicycle frame

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[8] Alexandre Callens, André Bignonnet, “Fatigue design of welded bicycle frames using a multi axial Criterion”,

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[9] Derek Covill, Steven Begg, Eddy Elton, Mark Milne, Richard Morris, Tim Katz,” Parametric finite element

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