Modular Architecture Design of Chassis System Using Database

The design process of chassis systems is considerably difficult because of the complexity caused by numerous design variables and extreme nonlinearity. To address these problems, this study proposes a modular architecture design process for chassis systems. First, a chassis system is modularized to create a modular architecture, and then, each module category is designated as a design variable. Moreover, a technique is developed to derive the optimal combination of modules from a database to closely match the target performance using the results of effect analysis. The proposed design technique significantly reduces the number of design variables of the chassis system and ensures feasibility at the manufacturing stage because the modules of the database are reused. The design problem of the chassis system of a sedan is used to prove the validity of the proposed method. The chassis system database is based on three vehicle models, and 20 module categories are used as design variables. As a result of the design, the TB factor, which is an objective function and the performance index of handling dynamics, is improved by approximately 8 % compared to a benchmarking vehicle. Furthermore, the constraints of ride comfort and durability performance are satisfied in 54 experiments.