When the in-wheel motor is working, it will be affected by gravity, centrifugal force and electromagnetic force. These three kinds of mechanical loads will affect the mechanical stress characteristics of the in-wheel motor, and then affect the reliability of the in-wheel motor structure. In order to understand the influence of the above loads on the mechanical stress of the in-wheel motor, this paper takes a 15-kWbuilt-in permanent magnet in-wheel motor as the research object. Based on the establishment of the electromagnetic field and structure field coupling analysis model of the in-wheel motor, the mechanical stress of the in-wheel motor under different mechanical loads under rated and peak conditions are calculated and analyzed, and the influence of different mechanical loads on the stress and deformation of the in-wheel motor are studied. The research results show that, regardless of the rated operating condition or the peak operating condition, the in-wheel motor has the largest mechanical stress and deformation under the combined action of centrifugal force and electromagnetic force, and the smallest mechanical stress and deformation under the action of gravity only; under the same load (except for the case of gravity only), the stress and deformation of the in-wheel motor under the peak operating condition are larger than those under the rated operating condition; and the maximum stress and deformation of the in-wheel motor appear at the rotor magnetic bridge and the inner edge of the rotor, respectively, so the rotor is an easily damaged part of the in-wheel motor.

To this day, most of the papers related to hybrid joints were focused on single and double lap joints in which shear deformation and degradation was the dominant phenomenon. However, in real constructions, complex state of loads can be created by: a) torsion with shear, b) bending with shear, c) torsion with tensile.

Analytical and numerical computation for simple mechanical joints is known, however, the introduction of an adhesive layer to this joint makes the load transferred both through: (1) the adhesive and (2) mechanical fasteners. There is also an interaction between the amount and stiffness of mechanical fasteners and the strength of the adhesive layer.

The paper presents the results of numerical calculations for the bending with shear type of load for the hybrid structural joint and corresponding simple joints by: (1) pure adhesion and (2) rivets with different quantity maintaining the same cross-sectional area. A total of 9 simulations were performed for: (1) 4 types of pure rivets connections, (2) pure adhesive joint and (3) 4 kinds of hybrid joints. The surface-based cohesive behavior was used for creation of the adhesive layer, whereas the rivets were modelled by connector type fasteners, which simplify complexity of the numerical model. The use of connectors allowed for effort assessment taking into account damage in both types of connections. Application of connector elements can be useful for larger structures modelling, e.g. aircraft fuselage, where the number of mechanical joints is significant and complex load conditions occur.