DESIGN OPTIMIZATION AND CRASHWORTHINESS ANALYSIS OF CAR BODY STRUCTURE USING ANSYS

The performance of the vehicle can be optimized by various means, one such method is by reducing the weight to increase its performance. With the recent development in the field of composites it is evident that composite materials can be the best alternative material to reduce the weight but we must also be careful to maintain its strength. The research and development over Composite materials have benefited greatly as they have higher strength and lower weight, more recyclable. In this thesis, a car body structure is designed using CATIA V5 software and a comparative Computer-aided engineering analysis for its crash worthiness is done using ANSYS workbench. The main advantage of CAE is the car body structure can be tested in various fields for optimum performance and durability of the component without actual manufacturing of the original component. The car body structure is implemented with four different materials such as Structural Steel, Magnesium Alloy, Titanium Alloy, Carbon fiber Reinforced Polymer Materials and analyzed of its crash worthiness by impact and explicit dynamics analysis. The weight of the car body is being optimized by optimization technique for mass reduction without compromising the stiffness and durability of the structure. The CAE analysis and weight reductions are done in ANSYS workbench software. The results will be compared and discussed with the equivalent stress and total deformation value to find out the better materials that reduces weight and withstands stiffness and durability.