Authors:
A. P. Kalidas, S. Soundararajan, M. Anantha Babu, V. Guna, V. Karthikraja, S. Rajkumar

Addresses:
Department of Automobile Engineering, K. S. R. College of Engineering, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, India. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thanthai Periyar Government Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Technology, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia, East Africa.

Abstract:

Any vehicle's wheel is a fundamental part that directly affects structural integrity, performance, and safety. Inappropriate wheel design can cause catastrophic failure, therefore endangering the vehicle and its people greatly. Wheel performance is significantly influenced by the material used in construction. This paper utilises a structural analysis of a wheel constructed from S-Glass epoxy composite, a material with an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, making it ideal for high-performance applications. Originally developed using Creo, a potent CAD tool, the wheel is exported to ANSYS for finite element analysis (FEA). With low deformation under load, the FEA findings demonstrate the excellent structural behaviour of the S-Glass epoxy wheel. The performance of the S-Glass wheel is matched with that of wheels constructed from traditional E-Glass composite and aluminium to confirm its efficiency. The comparison shows that the S-Glass composite wheel has much reduced values of stress, strain, and deformation. These results demonstrate the superior mechanical characteristics of S-Glass composites, establishing them as a practical and potentially superior alternative for creating lightweight and durable wheels in high-performance cars. 

Keywords: S-Glass Epoxy; Wheel Performance; Structural Integrity; Finite Element; Traditional Aluminium; Structural Analysis; Catastrophic Failure; Strain Analysis; Performance and Safety.

Received on: 29/08/2024, Revised on: 30/10/2024, Accepted on: 12/12/2024, Published on: 05/06/2025

DOI: 10.69888/FTSSM.2025.000403

FMDB Transactions on Sustainable Structures and Materials, 2025 Vol. 1 No. 1, Pages: 1-11

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