Uniform Design and Explicit Dynamics Finite Element Analysis in Improving Permanent Deformation of an On-Road Bicycle Frame Undergoing The Drop-Frame Impact Test

This paper aims to apply the uniform design method and explicit dynamics finite element analysis to improve the permanent deformation of an on-road bicycle frame which undergoes the drop-frame impact test. Eight dimensional parameters of bicycle frame are selected as the control factors. The uniform design method is applied to construct a set of experiments. Each experiment denotes a specific design of frame. For each frame, the explicit dynamics finite element analysis package ANSYS/LS-DYNA is employed to simulate the drop-frame impact test and analyse the permanent deformation of bicycle frame. From all the experiments, the frame which causes the smallest permanent deformation is selected as the improved design of frame. Compared with the original design of frame which causes a permanent deformation of 5.66 mm, the improved design causes a permanent deformation of 5.1 mm. The rate of improvement is 9.9 %.