A Study on the Analysis Method for Optimizing Mounting Brackets 2006-01-1480

Various optimization schemes have successfully been utilized to design mounting brackets of chassis components, especially suspension systems, in the large commercial vehicle development process. Depending on the design status, different optimization schemes, i.e. size, topology, and shape, are applied. There are two key elements that determine types of optimization schemes used, which are design freedom and available analysis time. First, in a case that the design is already frozen near the mass production, so that only minimal design change and time is allowed, the size optimization is attempted. Second, in the middle of the design process where relatively more room for the change is available, the topology optimization is adequate to carry out, based on the basic CAD model. Finally, early in the design process, when total freedom is given for the design and sufficient analysis time is allowed, both the topology and the shape optimization can be adopted, starting from a box model without any reference CAD model. In this paper, it is discussed how these optimization methods were exploited to achieve an optimized design of the brackets - more stiffness, strength, and less weight.