STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM FOR VEHICLE SUSPENSIONS

Abstract

Stringent tolerances on mechanical components have created increasingly severe demands on the quality of new mechanical designs. The mathematical models used to analyze the various types of mechanical systems these days need to incorporate an optimization algorithm capable of minimizing the levels of vibrations coming from varied sources. The suggested method is based on the parallel combination of three methods; the Rayleigh-Ritz approach (to determine the first eigenfrequencies) which is incorporated into an efficient multicriterion optimization process based on the ESO (Evolutionary Structural Optimization) method and the finite element software ABAQUS. The analytical resolution and the numerical calculations of the mechanical component are, finally, validated by an experimental set-up which exploits a frequency analyser, acceleration sensors and an excitation hammer. The effectiveness of this approach is also demonstrated in the analysis of an upper car suspension arm. By gradually removing material from the initial car suspension design, the frequency of the component can be controlled in order to optimize the structural constraints.