EDM Topology Optimization Virtual Methodology Development

In the automotive industry, one of the main objectives of current designs is to minimize the vehicle’s mass, with the end-goal of maximizing its performance, fuel efficiency, and range – the last one being especially important for battery electric vehicles. Moreover, a lightweight design potentially leads to noticeable reductions of material utilization and manufacturing efforts, further reducing the vehicle’s overall CO₂ footprint. To achieve such an ambitious objective, an increasingly common strategy is to employ mathematical tools, such as topology optimization, to minimize components’ masses while maintaining their necessary structural strength. In this work of thesis, topology optimization is performed on an automotive differential, currently employed on Stellantis’ STLA Small EV platform. The differential is the heaviest component of the entire transmission and would benefit the most from an optimization. The thesis aims at developing a methodology, along with some guidelines, for performing topology optimization with the FEM software Altair HyperMesh/Optistruct.