Comment by mmmBacon
9 years ago
This is interesting for sure in identifying novel spoke patterns that might result in a stronger/lighter wheel. Since the simulator identifies lots of possibilities it would be useful to have some kind of figure of merit to help with down-selection. It also seems like things like being out-of-dish or out of true are things that could be used to eliminate possibilities without user intervention.
Lastly I wonder if you constrain this enough whether it would spit out "standard" spoke patterns that are used commonly. I'd like to think that spoke patterns that we use now are close to optimal due to a kind of evolution based on lots of trial and error. But maybe that's not the case.
Not exactly what you're asking about. But I talked to a guy who worked on a project using genetic algorithms to optimize motorcycle wheel designs. He said one of the best designs that came out looked pretty much like a traditionally spoked wheel, just a bit more organic in shape.