Optimization of Car Rim Using OptiStruct

Automobile industries requière manufacturing véhicules at optimum coste and with greater safety. For this purpose every component of vehicle is analysed for critical conditions. In this work car rim is considered for optimization by using finite element method. The optimization is carried to minimize the weight of rim without exceeding allowable strain. The intention is to create the geometry utilizing parameters for all the variables, deciding which variables to use as design, state and objective variables to obtain an accurately converged solution. FEM software OptiStruct is used for optimization of rim. If the stress & strain values are within the permissible range, then certain dimensions are modified to reduce the amount of material needed. The procedure is repeated until design changes satisfy all the criteria. For experimental verification similar type of object is used and stresses in it are calculated for set load with suitable instrumentation. Then same is calculated in OptiStruct software and Experimental results are compared with FEM results.