REVIEW ON TOPOLOGY OPTIMISATION OF REAR AXLE OF HEAVY VEHICLES

The Paper reviews the research done in the area of mass optimisation of rear axle of heavy vehicles. In the past decade by various methods using vast variety of software for designing, analysis and topology optimisation with different loading conditions, boundary conditions and geometry. In the timeline a series of simulations have been carried out in order to optimise the performance of the rear axle and the results of which are discussed and summarized in this paper. The main objective of this paper is to study the loading and possible areas of optimisation in the rear axle domain. The main area of optimisation of the rear axle is found to be the axle hub and it's covering where an attempt is made to reduce the thickness, increase the natural frequency and reduce the mass of the axle by 25% which enhances the performance of the vehicle and increases the efficiency.