Multi-material and multi-joint topology optimization for automotive lightweight design

随着政府对燃油效率和二氧化碳排放的新规定，汽车制造商正处于 大幅降低车辆质量的巨大压力。例如，原始设备制造商必须显著改进车辆 从2016年开始到2025年的一系列步骤的里程数，这是由于强制的公司平均燃料 经济舱(咖啡厅)。燃油经济性要求将改变汽车的设计方式和 汽车制造商正在寻找一切可能的减轻重量的方法。 拓扑优化确定了在维护的同时最大限度地减轻重量的材料的最佳布局或分布 重要的性能特征；这是最有效和最有前途的设计技术之一 减轻车辆重量。各种轻质材料在汽车开发中的使用正在迅速增加，而这 提出了一个新的设计挑战：“多种材料的最佳使用和分配以及最佳连接是什么？” 传统的优化方法不能很好地应对这一挑战，开发一种 一种有效的方法，可以确定多种不同材料及其连接方法的最佳使用。 本研究的目的是(1)确定下一代汽车底盘联接的最优设计 利用混合材料和各种连接方法的策略(2)通过发展高级拓扑优化 多种材料连接设计和连接方法的探讨。 通过开发多材料和多关节拓扑优化的新技术，优化设计将被 由加拿大通用汽车公司为轻型卡车的梯形底盘车架确定。总重量节省了 30%为目标，而不牺牲车架的强度或刚度。该项目的最终交付成果是 下一代梯架组件的生产准备设计以及使用的优化软件模块 由通用汽车加拿大公司在其早期的车辆架构开发阶段。

With new government regulations on fuel efficiency and C02 emissions, automotive manufacturers are under tremendous pressure to reduce vehicle mass drastically. As an example, OEMs have to significantly improve vehicle mileage through a series of steps beginning in 2016 through to 2025 due to the mandated Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE). The fuel economy requirements will transform the way in which vehicles are designed and manufactured as automakers are looking at every possible means to reduce weight. Topology optimization determines the optimum layout or distribution of material that minimizes weight while maintaining important performance characteristics; and this is one of the most effective and promising design techniques for reducing vehicle weight. The use of various lightweight materials in vehicle development is rapidly increasing, and this raises a new design challenge: "What are the optimum use and distribution of multiple materials and the optimum joining methods?" Conventional optimization approaches are ill equipped for this challenge, and it is imperative to develop an effective approach that can determine the optimum use of the multiple, dissimilar materials and their joining methods. The objectives of this research are (1) to determine optimum designs of next generation vehicle chassis joining strategies which utilize mixed materials and various joining methods (2) by developing advanced topology optimization approaches for multiple material joint designs and joining methods. By developing new techniques for multi-material and multi-joint topology optimization, optimized designs will be determined for the ladder chassis frame of a light-duty truck by General Motors of Canada. A total weight savings of 30% is targeted, without sacrificing the strength or stiffness of the frame. The final deliverables for the project are production ready designs for next generation ladder frame assemblies as well as optimization-software modules for use by GM Canada in its early vehicle architecture development stage.