Multi-material Lightweight Design Considering Manufacturability

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Modern automotive and aerospace vehicle designers are under great pressure to find new ways to reduce weight of vehicles in order to improve fuel economy. Weight reduction is achieved by strategic material use, effective joining methods, advanced manufacturing techniques, and design optimization. My group's research has made great advancements to all of these methods, but current state of the art design requires each method to be applied independently in the design process. There is a great opportunity to fundamentally change the mechanical design process by developing optimization methods and an integrated software tool that can effectively consider all lightweight design methods simultaneously to produce immediately manufacturable, optimum designs.*******This change will be realized by accomplishing three short-term (5 year) objectives:****Objective 1: Development of a multi-material, multi-joint topology optimization algorithm with the consideration of additive manufacturing;*******Objective 2: Accurate modeling of joints (including welds, bolts, rivets, and adhesive bonds) with a particular emphasis on accurate fatigue modeling of welds;*******Objective 3: Development of an effective post-processor for topology optimization that filters out non-physical features and can consider human experience; and development of the Integrated Topology Optimization Tool that integrates all above efforts (Objectives 1 and 2, and post-processor).*******The long term vision of my research program is to make a profound impact on the automotive and aerospace industries and the environment by maximizing weight reduction capability of designers based on design optimization. The proposed research will be completed by 7 HQP (3 PhD and 2 MSc students; 1 undergraduate student; and 1 postdoctoral research fellow). The HQP will have significant benefits by having opportunities to improve their academic competence, and technical skills in practical automotive / aerospace design and various software packages. They will also have great opportunities to significantly improve and enhance leadership, communication skills, and networking skills.*******The proposed methodology will produce a software program capable of performing multi-material and multi-joint topology optimization for parts produced by additive manufacturing, and will create innovative and mechanically feasible optimum designs that can be immediately manufactured. This method and tool will set a new standard for lightweight design by dramatically reducing time and efforts required in the design process. The proposed research, if successful, would revolutionize the mechanical design process and will empower engineers to push forward technological boundaries of lightweight design. The research outcome would be immediately usable for industrial partners which will enable fundamental and permanent technological, economic, and environmental impacts.******