This study investigates the mass reduction potential of various materials which could be used in the primary structure of a front-wheel drive compact car. An in-house structural optimization computer program produced alternate designs with mild steel, HSLA steel and aluminum, as well as continuous fiber graphite-epoxy and glass-epoxy composites. For each alternate material, the design was optimized to find a minimum mass structure which would satisfy the comprehensive set of design criteria. Compared to the baseline design at 106 kg, structures made entirely with HSLA steel, aluminum, or graphite-epoxy reduced the mass by 15 percent, 26 percent, and 60 percent, respectively.An algorithm for selective replacement of strength constrained members with alternate high strength materials was developed and evaluated.


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    Title :

    Structural Optimization with Alternate Materials–Minimum Mass Design of the Primary Structure


    Additional title:

    Sae Technical Papers


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    SAE International Congress and Exposition ; 1981



    Publication date :

    1981-02-01




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




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