Reliability-based optimization design of carbon fiber reinforced plastics crossbeam of twist-beam suspension

Due to the lightweight and excellent mechanical property, carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are widely applied in vehicle components. In this paper, a reliability-based multi-level optimization method is proposed for the lightweight design of the crossbeam. The CFRP specimens were first fabricated to acquire the mechanical parameters. Then, based on the equal stiffness theory, CFRP was used to replace the material of steel beam and the section was improved. The optimal ply scheme of CFRP beams was determined by ply optimization. On this basis, considering the uncertainty of the ply thickness and the ply angle, the reliability-based multi-objective optimization of CFRP beams was carried out. Finally, entropy weighted grey relational analysis (GRA) was used to determine the lightweight scheme of the crossbeam. The results show that the crossbeam mass is reduced by 59.85 % under the premise of ensuring structural performance and high reliability after multi-level optimization.