Lightweight Design of Three-Dimensional Woven Composite Automobile Shock Tower

This paper proposes a lightweight design strategy for automobile shock tower made of three-dimensional woven composites (3DWOC). The presented design strategy consists of an analytical model for predicting the mechanical behaviors of composites and an optimization method. Volume averaging method and iso-strain assumption are adopted in the analytical model to calculate the elastic properties and strength characteristics of 3DWOC. The predicted properties are in good agreement with the available experimental data. An optimization method integrating particle swarm optimization algorithm and surrogate modeling technique is employed to solve the optimization problem with mixed discrete-continuous design variables from material and structure. The optimized automobile shock tower meets all requirements on structural stiffness and strength when reaching a 30.27% weight reduction.