Structural Simulations of Bicycle Frame Behaviour under Various Load Conditions

Abstract

The stress distribution and deformation formed by various loading conditions are a crucial thing to be considered during design. Stress and deformation maximum area should be a primary concern, and this study will discuss the stress analysis and displacement of the bike frame (T-I profiles) through the Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Five scenarios loading conditions have been applied which is expected to represent various situations that happen in the actual performance of the bicycle frame. Loading conditions are the static start-up, steady-state pedaling, vertical-horizontal loading, and rear wheel breaking. Cross-section of bike frame comprises into two forms. There are “T” profile on the mainframe and “I” profile on stay. The simulation results in this paper show that von-mises stress ranging from 7.18 - 36.83 MPa which are spreading over several areas of this bike frame such as seat beam, chain stay-seat stay, top beam, and drop out, depending on the position of the loading applied. Subsequently, the maximum deflection that the bike frame from this design is obtained is 0.018 - 0.23 mm (simulation results). Optimization of this bicycle frame is needed for future development.