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A case study of the application of topography and shape optimization techniques to the design of a jounce bumper bracket of a pick-up truck has been presented. First a sizing (gage) optimization was undertaken to redesign the jounce bumper bracket. Since the weight was not satisfactory it was decided to try shape optimization. A better solution was obtained. Topography optimization, a relatively new technique of bead formation, was then applied and a still better solution was obtained. All these options were presented to the designer to enable him to make a decision based on manufacturing and other constraints. Although all the three solutions seems to give good results the topography optimized jounce bracket results in the least weight, with the penalty of an additional manufacturing operation.

A case study of the application of optimization techniques to the design of rear-axles-connecting-linkage of heavy trucks with only two rear axles has been presented. The rear axles are made to move in tandem by designing a linkage connecting the two at each of its ends. The linkage locations are determined by the inter-axle-drive shaft, which is a telescopic tube. The drive-shaft is mounted with U-Joints on the two rear axles and follows the bumps and rebounds of the roads with minimal rotation about the lateral axis. Optimization techniques were applied to a planar ADAMS Model to minimize the drive shaft rotation.

Automotive drive shafts, which transmit power from the transmission unit to the rear axle are in general straight round tubes. An attempt has been made to explore other possible cross-sectional shapes to improve NVH (Noise Vibration and Harshness) performance. The first natural frequency is a very good indicator of the NVH performance. First, finite element based topology optimization and later topography optimizations were tried out. A number of design solutions were obtained from the study and a comparison has been made. A round drive shaft with a bulge at the center has been proposed for stiffenening the drive shaft to improve the first natural frequency.