Abstract: A flywheel stores energy was composed of hub and multi-rims made of filament winding with carbon fiber. The hub and rims were subject to axisymmetric centrifugal forces due to rotation and pressure come from the interface of rims. The interface pressure varying with the rotation speed made the stress analysis being very complexity at various radius and condition from stop to the maximal operation speed. In this investigation, based on the assumption of a plane stress, an analytic method for calculating the stresses and displacements distribution of the orthotropic rim is presented respectively. Moreover, the superposition principle was applied to calculate the stresses and displacements. The relatively simple solving process was applied to analyze and design the flywheel, such as choosing the interference fit, evaluating strength of the flywheel, and calculating the maximal speed. The analysis result of the stresses and displacements was carried out for an actual flywheel design example.

Key words: multi-rim flywheel, composites flywheel, interference fit, stress and displacement