Effect of Geometrical Parameters on Deflection of Different Chassis Component Sections

Kalyani Centre for Technology & Innovation, Bharat Forge Ltd. Pune, India

Abstract

Many of the chassis and suspension components are made from variety of sections. Most of them are the robust components assembled critically with other chassis part of the vehicle. The chassis components are used to carry the weight of the vehicle as well as some of them facilitates steering and absorb shocks due to road surface variations. Present competitive market of automotive industry demands for low cost and light weight components. Therefore more emphasis is towards design optimization for reducing weight while maintaining the structural stiffness unchanged. This paper more focuses on effect of geometrical parameters of different sections of chassis components on deflection characteristics by using a hybrid approach of statistical Taguchi method based on orthogonal array and Finite elements analysis (FEA). Using this method the most influencing parameters for deflection are identified through sensitivity analysis. The results obtained are used as a design guideline for generating optimized components with improved deflection performance.