Design of Front Lower Control Arm Considering Buckling Strength and Durability Strength

Recently, the concept of structural design against instability has been proposed in the chassis parts. The design considerations of lower control arm of chassis parts under the buckling and durability strengths are the general. More precisely, this paper considers a specific application and associated optimization problem for two strengths, where the design variables are the physical or geometric dimensions for skins and stiffeners. The objective is the minimization of the total weight, while optimization constrains involve reserve or improve factors for the buckling and durability strengths. The most important features are related to the numerical simulations for the estimation of buckling factor and their sensitivities by means of nonlinear and linear finite element analyses. The bucking and durability strength analyses, and the morping geometries are directly included in the optimization problem and the modified design is formulated. As a result, the optimal structure with stable behavior is obtained or increases the buckling and durability strengths of parts. Most of design problems for structures exposed to elastic instability can be formulated and solved.