JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #114 - July 2017 - 37

SPORTS & LEISURE
simulation

Cervelo's bike frame benefits
from optimized design philosophy

Simon odling,
Managing Director
Lentus Composites

The process of optimizing a structure through element testing, CAE simulation
and then testing of the complete structure in very compressed timescales has
real applications in many sectors including transportation, from human-powered vehicles through automotive to rail and aerospace. In this context, we
interviewed Simon Odling from Lentus Composites about this process and his
expectations.

In regards to this new bicycle frame, what
does this innovation involve?

Simon Odling: The bicycle frame had

Were composite materials the only option?

S.O.: The value created consisted in the

ability to fully optimize the aerodynamic
performance of the frame while meeting the
strength, stiffness and impact performance
requirements to enable it to be officially

How did you organize your work?

S.O. : The development phase was very

compressed. The initial stage used CAE tools
to come up with a structure that would meet
the standards. Thus, the structure was broken
down into elements that were manufactured
and tested in the Lentus mechanical test
lab to allow the simulation to be calibrated.
This calibration was carried out for each
critical area of the frame where the load case
and demands were different and where the
materials selection and laminate design were
tailored to meet these demands. Once the
simulation models were calibrated and we
had good correlation with the test data, the
CAE tool could be used to optimize the frame
structure, reduce its weight and increase its

strength and stiffness. This optimized design
philosophy was then applied to design seven
sizes of bike frames overall. These frames
were manufactured and tested as complete
frames to ensure the functional requirements
were satisfied. Then, the bikes were tested on
track to confirm that the specification and
execution of the design had led to a bike with
the right feel and ride attributes before it was
put into production and rolled out for the
highest profile debut imaginable.
What's the target market for this type of
products?

S.O. : The market potential for this type of
bike frames is limited to the top echelons
of the sports sector. However, the key
innovations that delivered this remarkable
bike have wide ranging applications across
many industries where similar demands
need to be met.

More information:
www.lentuscomposites.co.uk
simon.odling@lentuscomposites.co.uk

Focus
The key benefits of the bike were dominance on the track and a huge haul of medals. But behind the headlines, the approach to engineering and analysis will make it possible to optimize
complex multi-material structures for many more applications. This will allow products to be
designed, analysed, tested and validated in extremely compressed time scales. This massively
reduces the cost of developing complex products, gets them to market sooner and will allow
this type of approach to be used in a wider range of sectors, thus enabling composite materials
to be even more widely adopted than they are now.

N°114 July 2017

/ jec composites magazine

Feature Sports & Leisure

some particularly challenging requirements.
The frame design was optimized for
aerodynamic performance, so the demands
on the materials were highly challenging.
This meant that an unusual combination
of materials were required to meet the
functional performance of the bicycle,
including combinations of standardmodulus high-strength fibres, intermediatemodulus fibres, high-modulus fibres. The real
innovations came about in the application of
these materials and the optimization of the
structure and the stress analysis to ensure that
all of the performance requirements were
met within the very tight constraints of the
frame geometry. The complex shapes and the
need for absolute weight optimization meant
that an innovative materials selection had to
be applied and the analysis tools were used
in an innovative way in order to accurately
model this complex structure.

approved. This resulted in a very efficient
bicycle and this was one element in the
success on track which was publicly
demonstrated.
Composite frames are industry standard,
but it was the selection and application of
specific composite materials that took this
design beyond the normal and truly added
the value.

http://www.lentuscomposites.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #114 - July 2017