Weight Optimization of Existing Transmission Housing for Heavy Duty Commercial Vehicles Using Correlated Simulation and Experimental Tools

Abstract

In the current market trends there is always a need to arrive for light weight designs. For commercial vehicles, an attempt is made to re-design of existing cast iron transmission housing-considering its structural strength and stiffness. Advanced non-linear topology optimization methods have been addressed as the most promising techniques for light weight and performance design of powertrain housings. Instead of conventional approach, a new finite element simulation approach has been adopted to align the project time plan (design and development time) to predict the stiffness and static factor of safety under defined VE commercial vehicles limited durability load cases. For this, it was used non-linear topology optimization technique and it was experimentally verified. With this study, 20 % weight reduction was achieved in transmission housing with the same overall structural stiffness - hence, same methodology can be implemented in other structural housing.