Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Vehicle Front Suspension System Using PIDO Technology

Multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) for a suspension component of the vehicle front suspension was performed in this research. Shapes and thicknesses of the subframe were optimized to satisfy multi-disciplinary design requirements; weight, fatigue, crash, noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), and kinematic and compliance (K&C). Analyses procedures of the performance disciplines were integrated and automated by using the process integration and design optimization (PIDO) technique, and the integrated and automated analyses environments enabled various types of analytic design methodologies for solving the MDO problem. We applied an approximate optimization technique which involves sequential sampling and metamodeling. Since the design variables for thicknesses should be dealt as discrete variables. the evolutionary algorithm is selected as optimization technique. The MDO problem was formulated three types of problems according to the order of priorities among the performance disciplines, and the results of MDO provided design alternatives for various design situations.