횡 방향 굽힘 강성 및 내구 성능을 고려한 맥퍼슨 스트럿의 경량 최적 설계에 대한 연구

Recently, development of light-weight vehicle is the most important issue in the automobile industry to improve fuel efficiency, vehicle performance and cost reduction. So, mass or weight reduction is being tried in the vehicle body(BIW) as well as suspension components. This paper will discuss iterative optimization strategy to minimize the mass of MacPherson strut suspension while meeting the lateral bending stiffness and durability requirements. The focus of this study is to find key control factors for weight reduction of MacPherson strut considering lateral bending stiffness and durability performance. This process of optimization study consists of three steps. Firstly, to comprehend the current status of lateral bending stiffness of competitors" MacPherson strut, the strut bending test is performed and static stiffness analysis for our product is conducted with qualified test correlation model. In the second step, static stiffness analysis is conducted with selected design variables to find key factors of weight reduction. And then, fatigue & pothole analysis for the standard loadcases are performed to meet the durability target based on former result of the steps. As a result of the optimization study, we proposed the key control factors and optimum light-weight design model affecting strut lateral stiffness, durability performance.