Front Suspension Upright designed through Topology for Additive Manufacturing

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The front suspension upright redesign project had an optimisation task for the current component fitted on the Coventry University Formula Student race car, more specifically, improve the vehicle’s handling performance by minimising the weight of the unsprung assembly. The target of 10% weight reduction has been established. This has been achieved through current CAE design methodologies: Topology optimisation, Generative Shape Design, FEA, and CAD. To allow for maximised geometrical freedom, Additive Manufacturing was selected as a method of fabrication, the thesis of the Final Year Project supporting the technological improvements that this procedure allows for. I.e. AM is known for providing complex shapes, resemblant to organic matter, thus allowing for designers to create optimised structures that give a great increase in performance through light-weighting, and component stiffness. The academic report supports the hypothesis that states AM provides increased performance when compared with other traditional manufacturing methods. The final iteration ended up being 10.4% lighter than the original front suspension upright. The hypothesis of this dissertation was supported, and the quality of the submission was rated at 71.22% (1st class), therefore illustrating a successful completion of the primary objective for this Bachelor of Engineering dissertation topic.