Lightweight design of an outer tie rod for an electrical vehicle

Abstract

The lightweight design of the outer tie rod installed on an electrical vehicle was achieved through material selection and optimization technique. The aluminum alloy Al6082M was selected as a steel-substitute, and its structural shape was optimized by applying metamodel-based optimization. In this process, finite element analysis was performed to predict the structural responses, such as buckling resistance and fatigue life. First, for an arbitrary base design made of steel, the structural responses were calculated. Then, the design variables were defined to find a lightweight design made of Al6082M. Secondly, metamodel-based optimization based on the kriging interpolation method was applied, leading to determination of an optimum design. The suggested optimum design has the minimum weight satisfying the critical design requirement. Finally, the numerical results of the buckling resistance and fatigue life were validated, through bucking and fatigue tests. © 2014 Young-Chul Park et al.