A new design for a lightweight flatbed trailer with high bending and torsional stiffness is presented by using an integrated CAE-based optimization procedure. The integrated design procedure consists of two main steps: topology optimization and thickn...
A new design for a lightweight flatbed trailer with high bending and torsional stiffness is presented by using an integrated CAE-based optimization procedure. The integrated design procedure consists of two main steps: topology optimization and thickness optimization. During topology optimization, a creative frame layout different from existing ladder-type frames can be obtained by searching the best layout out of all possible layouts of a simplified design domain model. After approximating the result of topology optimization as a thin-walled structure, the approximated thicknesses of the plates are optimized to minimize the mass of a trailer.