Light-weight design of automobile suspension components using topology and shape optimization techniques

Abstract

The population of the world is increasing day by day. Accordingly, the amount of production and consumption are increasing. Due to the continuous and rapid development of technology, the duration of the use of some products becomes shorter. That is why the more efficient use of limited resources is even more important. In the developing and growing automotive industry, companies are currently focusing on weight and cost reduction methods to compete. In this study, the optimum design has been achieved by using topology and shape optimization in the suspension cover used in suspension systems. As a result of the topology and shape optimization efforts, The mass of the optimum design achieved was reduced by 35.203 % according to the first design.

Guidelines for Topology Optimization as Concept Design Tool and Their Application for the Mechanical Design of the Inner Frame to Support an Ancient Bronze Statue

“…TO presents numerous remarkable practical applications such as the design of structures with multi-objectives [15], multi-scale [16][17][18] and multi-material [19,20], design of functionally graded structures [21,22], design of energy absorption structures to improve resistance against crash failures [23,24], design of periodic structures to improve stability against buckling failure [25], design of architectural structures [26,27], production of sustainable design [28], etc. Similarly, TO provides several other worthwhile applications in conjunction with other optimization tools such as TO with lattice structures to improve resistance against buckling failure [29,30], and designing efficient heat dissipation structures [31], TO with shape optimization [32,33] for better shape and maximum weight reduction, TO with generative design [34,35] to achieve better structural performance, or with tools able to select design variants for optimizing both product and process features [36], etc. Furthermore, researchers are currently working on TO in order to produce some state-of-the-art designs regarding structures with negative Poisson ratio [37], structures with negative thermal expansion [38], structures with natural convection [39], load-supporting structures for civil engineering [40,41], etc.…”