Topology Optimization for Improving Local Dynamic Stiffness of Automotive Body Structure

This paper presents the structural optimum design method for improving local dynamic stiffness of automotivebody structure using topology optimization. The excitation loads from road and engine affect the NVH performance ofautomotive body structure directly. Since the local dynamic stiffness around excitation loads is known to be important forimproving the NVH performance, the topology optimization problem that minimizes the modal displacement at the specificfrequency has been applied to find the optimum position of the reinforcement. The modal displacements at few points, however,cannot consider the whole frequency range. In this paper, the local dynamic stiffness constraints of target performance areemployed to prevent the performance violation. The hexahedral elements are attached to automotive body structure to find thereinforcement region using topology optimization method. It is confirmed that the optimum design satisfies the targetperformance over the whole frequency range