Influence of structure and material on the vibration modal characteristics of novel combined flexible road wheel

Abstract Aiming at the independent development of tracked vehicles, it is urgent to improve its mobility, passability and ride comfort, a new type of flexible road wheel with a “wheel-hinge-hub” combined structure is proposed in this study. The vibration model characteristics of the flexible road wheel were studied by the combination of numerical simulation and experiments. The superelasticity of rubber is obtained through uniaxial tensile experiment of the material and a detail three-dimensional nolinear finite element model of the flexible road wheel is established through finite element software ABAQUS. The free vibration equation of the flexible road wheel is solved by Lanczos vector direct superposition method, and its predicted modes and natural frequencies are compared with experimental results, which verifies the accuracy and reliability of the established finite element model. On this basis, the effects of various key structural or material factors on the natural frequencies of the flexible road wheel are studied using orthogonal experimental design method. Besides, the vibration modal characteristics of the flexible road wheel are also compared with those of the rigid road wheel. The research results provide a theoretical basis for the vibration and noise reduction of flexible road wheel.