Integration of topology and sensitive shape optimization into the product development process

The product development process according to VDI 2221 consisting of PLANNING, CONCEPTUAL DESIGN, DESIGNING and ELABORATING is the most convenient way of turning constructive ideas in a feasible design and bringing them to marketability. In the context of increasing traffic pollution and decreasing fossil resources, various government measures, like the EU strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from cars, were implemented in order to lower emissions and rise up fuel efficiency. These requirements are accompanied with the idea of lightweight design. During the last few years the finite element analysis (FEA) has been firmly positioned in the product development process. It is possible to reduce design space manually in an iterative way after each numerical calculation until certain critical values, like the maximum tensile stress or maximum deflection, are obtained. To speed up these manual operations, further optimization methods like the topology optimization, generating completely new designs, and the shape optimization, varying the devices’ characteristical geometries, were developed. Despite the necessity to integrate numerical methods for lightweight engineering in the product development process it is hardly state of the art. Therefore, the phases of the product development process are supplemented by topology optimization, and by shape optimization. This process chain is used to find the optimal design for a brake pedal of an electric Formula Student race car. Within this process it is possible to reach a final structure that is 77 % lighter, compared to a first draw with a simultaneous low level of deflection and equivalent stresses. Both the topology optimization and the shape optimization are powerful tools to tweak product designs, especially when they are integral methods in the development process.