ANALYSIS OF STRENGTH OF A FORK OF THE FORKLIFT BY NUMERICAL METHODS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34185/1562-9945-3-146-2023-04Keywords:
forklift, forks, stresses, finite element analysis, FreeCADAbstract
Forklift is an industrial power truck, commonly called forklifts or lift trucks, then usually have two forks the can be trial power truck used forklifting and transport materials. Fork-lifts, to this day, the fork strength of a forklift under load still seems to be one of the biggest issues. Fork’s related structural design and detail have a significant impact on the overall performance and reliability of a forklift. In this work, static analyses of a fork forklift were performed using Finite Element Method, on the free software FreeCAD, a multidisciplinary software application that is the result of a long-term active collaboration between develop-ers and users. Open science hardware is cheaper, easier to maintain, and more accessible to more people. In this paper, by calculating the maximum normal stress of the section, the force situation and allowable stress of the fork are analyzed. The fork is made of structural material is 40Cr steel. The output values of the static study consist in establishing the distri-bution of equivalent unitary stresses (stress state) according to the von Mises criterion. The maximum stress of the structure is 128 MPa, which is does not exceed the allowable. Then in order to enhance the structural strength of the weak part, the measures of gradually in-creasing the fillet radius of the fork root were proposed, and the radius were selected as 35mm and 45mm, the weight of the forklift load was still 0,5t. Numerical experiments have shown that by increasing the radius from 25 to 45 mm, stresses decrease by 1.1...1.15 times, which is consistent with the theory of basic mechanics that stress concentration can easily lead to fatigue failure of the structure. Both numerical calculations and visual analysis showed consistency, with stress concentrations observed at the fork neck, demonstrating the accuracy of the established finite element model.
References
Pantazopoulos G. Analysis of abnormal fatigue failure of forklift forks / G. Panta-zopoulos, A., Vazdirvanidis, A. Rikos, A. Toulfatzis // Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis. – 2014. – Т. 2. – №. 1. – pp. 9-14.
Massone J. M., Boeri R. E. Failure of forklift forks / J. M. Massone, R.E. Boeri // Engineering failure analysis. – 2010. – Т. 17. – №. 5. – pp. 1062-1068.
Jigh B.H.G. Low cycle fatigue analyses of open-celled aluminum foam under com-pression–compression loading using experimental and microstructure finite ele-ment analysis / B.H.G. Jigh, H. Hosseini-Toudeshky, M.A. Farsi //Journal of Alloys and Compounds. – 2018. – Т. 797. – pp. 231-236.
Zhen C. Numerical and Experimental Study on Trimaran Cross-Deck Structure’s Fatigue Characteristics Based on the Spectral Fatigue Method / C. Zhen, G. Feng, T. Wang, P. Yu //Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. – 2019. – Т. 7. – №. 3. – p. 62.
Deshmukh P. Impact of shifting load centers on the stability of the forklift / P. Deshmukh, G.K. Wadhwa //International Journal of Computer Engineering in Re-search Trends. – 2018. – Т. 5. – №. 4. – pp. 92-97.
Zhou Y. Theoretical and numerical investigation of stress mode shapes in multi-axial random fatigue / Y. Zhou, J. Tao // Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. – 2019. – Т. 127. – pp. 499-512.
Strelbitskyi V., Bovnegra L., Punchenko N. Application of free software FreeCAD for modelling and analysis of generated stresses of Jib crane beam. INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES IST-2021. Proceedings of the 10-th International Scientific and Technical Conference, Kharkiv - Odesa, Ukraine, September 13-19, 2021, pp.131-135.
Florescu V. Sescu-Gal Research on the Parameters Influencing the Numerical Analysis of the Fatigue Behaviour of a Forklift-ARM / V. Florescu, S. Mocanu, A. Neagu C. //Romanian Journal of Transport Infrastructure. – 2021. – Т. 10. – №. 1. – pp. 1-10.
Sequeira A.A. Design and Fabrication of Battery Operated Forklift/ A.A. Sequei-ra, S. Mohammed, A.A. Kumar, M. Sameer, Y.A. Kareem, K.H. Sachidananda //Journal Européen des Systèmes Automatisés. – 2019. – Т. 52. – №. 6. – pp. 569-574.
Zhang E. Structural optimization of forklift fork based on numerical simulation and mathematical modeling of stress and fatigue / E. Zhang, J. Zhuo, Z. Liu, T. Guo //Revista Internacional de Métodos Numéricos para Cálculo y Diseño en Ingeniería. – 2020. – Т. 36. – №. 1. – pp.1-12.
Akin J. E. Finite element analysis concepts: via SolidWorks. – World Scientific, 2010. - 313 p.
Xu X. Fatigue failure of an intermediate transition block in fuel-injection pump fork assembly of a truck diesel engine / X. Xu, Z. Yu, B. Yu //Engineering Failure Analysis. – 2018. – Т. 94. – pp. 13-23.
Gu X, Wang W., Lin N., Zhang G., Gu X. The Finite Element Analysis for Fork Based on ANSYS //2015 International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Mechatronics. – Atlantis Press, 2015. – pp. 152-154.
Pantazopoulos G. Fatigue failure of steel links operating as chain components in a heavy duty draw bench / G. Pantazopoulos, A. Vazdirvanidis, A. Toulfatzis, A. Rikos //Engineering Failure Analysis. – 2009. – Т. 16. – №. 7. – pp. 2440-2449.
Strelbitskyi V. Eksperymentalne doslidzhennia vplyvu napratsiuvannia ta asy-metrii tsyklu na trishchynostiikist stalei portalnykh kraniv / V.V. Strelbitskyi, O.O. Nemchuk // Herald of Khmelnytskyi National University. – 2020. – № 1. –
pp. 245–248. (In Ukraine)
Manual: What is FreeCAD [Internet resource]. – Режим доступу: https://wiki.freecad.org/FEM_Workbench.
Wang Y. Y. Tensile strain limits of girth welds with surface-breaking defects Part II experimental correlation and validation / Y.Y. Wang, D. Horsley, W. Cheng, A. Glover, M. McLamb, J.Zhou, R. Denys //Pipeline Technology, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Pipeline Technology. – 2004. – pp. 9-13.
