A METHOD FOR THE OPTIMAL DESIGN OF AUTOMOTIVE RUBBER COMPONENTS

The paper presents a method for the design of rubber components for automotive applications. The design of a rubber component is complex due to the dependence of its behavior not only on the geometry but also on the non-linear, frequency dependent characteristics of the material. A finite element (FE) model able to estimate stiffness, stress and filtering characteristics of the component is presented. The rubber is modeled by a non-linear model whose parameters are estimated from experimental tests. The dynamic behavior is described by means of storage and dissipation moduli given as function of the excitation frequency. The design of the component, which is a bushing to be fitted on a front double wishbone suspension, is accomplished by changing the main geometrical parameters while choosing between three different rubber types. Geometrical and material parameters are varied inside the FE model by an automatic procedure. The optimal set is derived by means of a multiobjective genetic algorithm. The proposed procedure allows to define the geometric dimensions of the component along with the most suitable material among a given set