Modelling of the diagnostic station operation process to identify damage to the wheel rim structure

This paper presents a method of constructing a mathematical model of a diagnostic station to identify the vibration spectrum of wheel rims in order to identify their technical condition. The method for diagnosing the technical state of a wheel rim is based on comparative analysis of time runs and a change in the natural frequencies in relation to the model runs. During the tests carried out according the developed method, the vibration spectrum was obtained through dynamic excitement of vibrations of the examined rim mounted on the diagnostic station by using a mechanical exciter of known impact energy. As a part of the mathematical model construction, a structural analysis was carried out and the stiffness coefficient, necessary for the description of the phenomenon, was determined using Sobol's grid. The obtained simulation results were compared to the results obtained in empirical tests on the diagnostic station for the wheel rim, which confirmed the correctness of the proposed model, as well as the method for identifying the technical condition of the wheel rim.