Citation

Eriksson P. Heavy Vehicle Syst. 2001; 8(1): 1-16.

Affiliation

Structural Dynamics and Durability, Scania CV AB Buses and Coaches, S-641 81 Katrineholm, Sweden

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This work concerns an optimisation of a bus body structure under transient vibrations. A simulation of a bus traversing an obstacle, with a cross-section of 50 X 200 mm Sq, is carried out and the response of the bus, due to the rear axle impact, is calculated. An FE model of the complete bus has been used, and the obstacle has been modelled by prescribed displacements under tyres on the rear axle. Accelerations have been evaluated by use of the comfort standard ISO2631:1997 at three different locations within the bus and a global measure of the discomfort has been defined. Corresponding measurements of the response within a test bus have been carried out and a satisfactory agreement between the computational model and the test bus is shown. A multicriteria approach to define the objective function, considering both discomfort and mass of the bus body, was adopted and the results showed that it was possible to reduce the discomfort with a minimum use of extra material. However, an investigation regarding more time efficient optimisation algorithms for this particular problem is desirable.