Mechanical strength of highly preloaded bolts affected by the ovalization of an aircraft wheel

This work presented in this paper concerns the modeling of the tensile and bending behavior of bolts in an airplane wheel. The design of a very rigid airplane tire means that the airplane wheel must be separated into two parts. In order not to have a separation between the two parts, several bolts with high preload are used. The main objective of this work is to predict the mechanical behavior of this assembly in a preliminary design phase with geometrical and global mechanical data. To achieve this objective, a simplified semi-numerical 1D model is developed. The complex geometry of the wheels is modeled by axisymmetric elements, while beam elements define the geometries and mechanical behavior of the bolts. The model is improved in non-axisymmetric cases to include the ring effect due to the wheel ovalization. Different cases are simulated (inflation and rolling). For each load case, the most stressed fastener is examined. Then, a comparison between its static and fatigue stress results and those of the 3D finite element reference model considered is analyzed for the validation of the developed tool. The semi-numerical model is used in the preliminary design phase and permits the geometric and mechanical properties of the aircraft wheel and fasteners to be defined so as to find the best assembly configuration that prevents separation.