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Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Campus Access Master's Report

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Advisor 1

Gregory Odegard

Committee Member 1

Paul Sanders

Committee Member 2

Paulus J van Susante

Abstract

Overall weight of vehicle contributes significantly towards fuel efficiency. Components used in vehicle today have thicker section sizes than the actual requirement due to the manufacturing and material property restrictions in thinner sections. A better optimized component with combined use of improved design, material and manufacturing practices can reduce the weight of components by 40-50% which can in turn reduce the overall weight of vehicle and hence increase fuel efficiency. Differential case is selected as the component to be optimized from design point of view which is currently being used commercial vehicles. The design optimization process for reducing weight of differential case is discussed in this report. The main aim of this project is to figure out the best suitable process for design optimization of differential case. After finalizing on the process, finite element analysis is performed on the optimized part to check whether the stress is within limits. Differential case has ring gear attached to it which bears load due to pinion motion. 36 different load cases have been studied with load at every 10 degrees in order to take into account the location of maximum stress.

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