The automotive industry is moving towards a new generation of lightweight vehicles for improved fuel economy and reduced pollution. However, the industry wants to keep the vehicle size without sacrificing performance, affordability, and safety. Hence, every component which makes up an automobile, from body structure to engine and interior, are scrutinized in pursue of weight savings. Efficient geometrical design and careful material utilization are ways to bring about a significant weight reduction in the auto body. This research will show techniques to predict areas in auto body that potentially have weight savings possibility. A formula is developed to determine the relevancy of substituting steel, the material used primarily in auto body, with aluminum for the equivalent structural stiffness from weight savings standpoint. Also, the same formula can provide geometrical guideline for an efficient body structure. Finite Element Modeling software ALGOR is employed in this research to determine the maximum deflection of an auto floor pan, before and after geometrical and material alteration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-5059 |
| Date | 04 August 2001 |
| Creators | Ng, Wei Loong |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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