On modeling a rolling wheel in the presence of plastic deformation as a three- or two-dimensional process

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-612-625-2374; fax: +1-612-626-7750. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Drescher), [email protected] (J.P.Hambleton). 1 On modeling a rolling wheel in the presence of plastic deformation as a threeor two-dimensional process J.P. Hambleton and A. Drescher Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota, 500 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA Abstract This paper compares predictions of deformation and horizontal (drag) force resulting from threeand two-dimensional numerical simulation of a torque-free (towed) wheel operating on ductile material. The finite element code ABAQUS/Explicit is used to simulate a complete process beginning with wheel indentation and ending, if admissible, with steady rolling. The wheel is rigid, and the material is modeled as elastic-perfectly plastic with the von Mises yield condition, with focus on plastic rather than elastic effects. It is shown that two-dimensional analysis of a rolling wheel cannot readily be applied to a narrow wheel to predict wheel penetration, although horizontal forces from threeand twodimensional simulations follow a similar trend. In particular, it is observed that steady-state penetration is constant over a range of applied vertical forces in the two-dimensional analysis, whereas steady-state penetration is an increasing function of vertical force for narrow wheels simulated in three dimensions. This illustrates potential errors in simplifying wheel rolling by utilizing two-dimensional analysis and the necessity of considering a fully three-dimensional process. In the paper, the latter is investigated in detail.