• Composites Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.141-146
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• 2012

The strength design for the lightweight bicycle wheel made of the Carbon/Epoxy composite laminates has been discussed in this paper. For bicycle wheel design, lightness of the wheel is important. Also, it has to satisfy the required strength under specific loading cases. Two testing methods for the bicycle wheel, i.e. vertical and complex loadings, are adopted in this study. Because the strengths of composite wheel is different in relation to the stacking sequence and the number of plies, it is important to decide an appropriate stacking sequence and number of layers for the composite wheel. From the finite element analysis results, the most stable sequence orientation and number of layers are determined. The stacking sequence $[0]_{8n}$, $[90]_{8n}$, $[0/90]_{2ns}$, $[{\pm}45]_{2ns}$, $[0/{\pm}45/90]_{ns}$ (n=1,2,3,4)are performed for finite element analysis. From results, $[0/{\pm}45/90]_{3s}$ lay-up is a good selection for the composite bicycle wheel. Also, the weakest point and layer are found in this study.