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Theoretical study on lightweight design of thin-walled beam structure for automobile body

  • Lingyu Sun*
  • , Stephen Bian
  • , Yingxian Yao
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The main load-supporting elements for an automobile framework are thin-walled beams. To study the effectiveness of lightweighting on the body stiffness, the analytical formulae describing static bending and torsional stiffness of a beam with fixed-fixed supporters were derived firstly. To get a light thin-walled beam structure with optimum section, the influence of every sectional geometry parameter on the stiffness-mass ratio was discussed respectively. After replacing the steel by the lightweight material, the corresponding variations in structural stiffness and size were analyzed. The stiffness-mass ratios of beams with open and close loop sections were also compared with each other. Finally, a few geometrical and material parameters, which can greatly influence the bending or torsional stiffness of these thin-walled beams, were found. For a typical thin-walled beam applied in an automobile body, the design guideline achieving both lightweight and high stiffness is presented.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1163-1167
Number of pages5
JournalBeijing Hangkong Hangtian Daxue Xuebao/Journal of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Volume30
Issue number12
StatePublished - Dec 2004

Keywords

  • Automobile body
  • Bending stiffness
  • Cross section
  • Thin-walled structure
  • Torsional stiffness

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