Abstract:

Most of the component optimization designs of the commercial vehicle are limited to the individual component because of the complex coupling relations between components. Focusing on the optimization problem of the vehicle component under full vehicle environment, a concept of modal stiffness was introduced, a modal stiffness sensitivity(MSS) was defined based on the finite element or the superelement, and the MSS calculation method was derived. The proposed method was applied to MSS analysis of the cab of a commercial vehicle under full vehicle environment. In the calculation, a 3-D finite element model was built for the full vehicle and the cab was divided into 15 superelements. the obtained MSS can be directly used to improve the structural design of the cab. The proposed method provides a simple and effective approach for the optimization of vehicle components under full vehicle environment.

Key words: solid-state mechanics, commercial vehicle, full vehicle environment, cab, modal stiffness sensitivity(MSS)