Lightweight steering equipment based on prestressed modal analysis

Abstract

As the key component to control the driving direction of the vehicle, the steering device always bears large vibration and load. In order to improve structural performance and reduce costs, a multi-objective optimization method based on the results of prestressed modal analysis was proposed, which can achieve significant lightweight and cost-effectiveness improvement. Based on the principle and working characteristics of the steering device, the minimum value of mass, minimum value of maximum stress, maximum value of equivalent stiffness were set as optimization objectives. Through finite element analysis, the prestressed modal module was constructed, and the strength and modal characteristics of the steering device were obtained. In order to verify the accuracy of prestressed modal analysis, the vibration testing experimental platform was built in a non free state. The excitation and response signals can be obtained through sensors and data acquisition devices and used as input and output data. According to the comparative analysis of simulated vibration modes, it can be concluded that the coupling analysis of strength and mode is more in line with actual boundary conditions and has high reliability. The DOE (Design of Experience) method was adopted to construct discrete corresponding values between design variables and optimization objectives based on the results of prestressed modal analysis. In order to better evaluate the cost-effectiveness of lightweight, a comparative analysis was conducted on the results of primary and secondary lightweight. The results show that the prestressed modal analysis method can achieve good dynamic analysis accuracy. Without reducing strength and equivalent stiffness, the mass of the steering device can be reduced by 14 %, achieving high economic benefits.