Optimization of Heavy Duty Truck Chassis Design by Considering Torsional Stiffness and Mass of the Structure

Abstract

The torsional stiffness is one of the most important properties of chassis that significantly affect its dynamic characteristics such as handling and rollover. The torsional stiffness is desired to be as high as possible since low torsional stiffness may cause resonance or vibration. There are several types of heavy duty truck chassis that used in Malaysia and no information about the torsional stiffness magnitude of it. In this work, the torsional stiffness of several existing types of heavy duty truck chassis and some modified types, namely: arc model, block model, hole model, multi holes model and fully block model are determined using finite element method. The torsional stiffness of several chassis was compared together with the weight comparison in order to get the best design of chassis that has high torsional stiffness and low weight. Based on the simulation result, the multi holes model is the best design due to the highest of torsional stiffness and the lowest mass.