Bicycle Wheel as Prestressed Structure
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 119, Issue 3
Abstract
Bicycle wheels achieve their structural efficiency by making use of prestressing in three ways. Tests show that the bottom spokes carry virtually all the load by compressive forces, which reduce the tensile prestress set up in the spokes when the wheel was made. The test results are compared with an analysis that considers the spokes as a disk that can carry force in one direction only. This is shown to give good agreement, as does an analysis that considers the rim as a straight beam on an elastic foundation. The behavior of the wheel with an inflated tire is also considered, and it is shown that good comparisons with theory are obtained if the reaction from the road is assumed to be distributed over a specific length of the rim. Prestressing is shown to be important also in the mechanism by which the various forces are transmitted through the tire from the road to the rim.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 119 • Issue 3 • March 1993
Pages: 439 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 20, 1991
Published online: Mar 1, 1993
Published in print: Mar 1993
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