Lightweight design of control arm combining load path analysis and biological characteristics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31181/rme2001210122wKeywords:
Control arm;, Bionic design;, Load path analysis;, LightweightAbstract
The existing bionic design methods are based on the similarity theory, but it is difficult to find a bionic prototype with high similarity for the control arm. In this paper, a design method combining load path analysis and biological characteristics is proposed to realize the lightweight of control arm. The load path is used to visualize the load-transferred law in structure and identify the load-bearing performance. Then, the structural improvement suggestions are given and a new control arm with the coupling load of bending moment and pressure is established. Then, the cross-section of wheat-stalk is selected as the cross-section of control arm from four kinds of plants including Bamboo, Wheat-stalk, Juncus, Brazilian Horsetail because of its good bending-resistance and torsion-resistance. The bionic model is designed and the mechanical performance is analyzed and verified by Finite Element Analysis. The results show that the stiffness and strength of the control arm are improved by 65.6% and 22.5% respectively, and its weight is reduced by 32.7%, which show the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.
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