The Finite Element Analysis and Optimization of the Hood Based on Hyperworks
Hood is an important part of the automobile, which directly affects the vehicle performance. This paper takes the hood as an example, first of all the three-dimensional model in CATIA was imported into Hypermesh, then it was simplified and meshed, the constrained mode and the stiffness of several conditions were calculated by Optistruct. By using the Size Optimization based on sensitivity analysis, the minimum hood mass is defined as the objective function; each component’s thickness was optimized under the prerequisite of ensuing stiffness and the first modal of hood. The results show that: the optimized hood meets stiffness requirements, the whole vehicle performance can be improved, therefore, the lightweight design in this paper is effective.