Abstract
Recently, low speed vehicle (LSV) is beginning to appear for various usages. The body of the LSV is usually made of the aluminum space frame (ASF) type rather than the monocoque or unitary construction type. A pa.1 of the reason is that it is easier to reduce mass efficiently while the required stiffness and strength are maintained. A design flow for LSV is proposed. Design specifications for structural performances of LSV do not exist yet. Therefore, they are defined through a comparative study with general passenger automobiles. An optimization problem is formulated by the defined specifications. At first, one pillar which has an important role in structural performances is selected and the reinforcements of the pillar are determined from topology optimization to maximize the stiffness. At second, the thicknesses of cross sections are determined to minimize the mass of the body while design specifications are satisfied. The optimum solution is compared with an existing design. The optimization process has been performed using a commercial optimization software system, GENESIS 7.0.