An experimental study of deformation behaviour of motorcycle front wheel-tyre assembly under frontal impact loading

Experiments were conducted to study the deformation behaviour of front wheel-tyre assembly of a motorcycle when subjected to frontal impact loading. Impact tests were conducted using an in-house developed pendulum impact test apparatus. Statistical software, Minitab version 13, was employed to support the entire experimental process. Some of the parameters that influence response of the motorcycle in a frontal crash, viz., impact speed, impact mass, inflation pressure level of the tyre, contact geometry of the striker and offset distance of impact location from the axle were varied during the experiments. A 2V5-1 fractional factorial design was incorporated in the experimental investigation and is described in detail. Experimental results are presented in terms of the maximum residual crush sustained by the wheel, normalized area of deformation and dissipated impact energy. Regression analysis to relate the impact energy to maximum residual crush and normalized area of deformation was then performed. It was found that the deformation of the wheel-tyre assembly is well correlated to the dissipated impact energy. Factorial analysis was also performed to investigate the effect of individual parameters on response of the assembly. These are presented in factorial plots, followed by a brief discussion.