Topology Optimisation for Weight Reduction in Vehicles Ladder-Type Chassis Construction: A Finite Element Approach

Abstract

During the design phase, achieving a minimum weight is mostly dependent on maintaining a balance between weight and strength. The trial-and-error process is employed to achieve this equilibrium in typical design applications. Topology optimisation (TO) approaches have been employed in recent decades to compute this equilibrium. The primary goal of TO is to achieve strong and lightweight components while maintaining their desired features and simultaneously minimising the material usage. Therefore, this work examined the TO of a ladder-type chassis specifically under the weight load, brake load and centrifugal loading situations. The proposed investigation was conducted using the ANSYS. An analysis was conducted to examine the deformation and stress levels of the ladder-type chassis. The investigation yielded a mass decrease of around 18.4% by TO model without surpassing the allowed stress limits when compared to the baseline design.