Accelerated performance optimization of drive axle housings based on the pseudo-damage reservation method

Abstract

The pseudo-damage reservation method (PDRM) is proposed and applied for improving the efficiency of mature drive axle housing (DAH) optimization for the first time. Additionally, the PDRM can substantially reduce the period of the fatigue bench testing. Thereafter, the fatigue life of DAH products is calculated using the inertia relief method with the initial load spectrum and the accelerated load spectrum. Simultaneously, the PDRM’s life error is 1.6%, which meets the engineering accuracy requirements. Ultimately, with the first-order intrinsic frequency and lifetime as the constraints and the weights as the optimization objectives, five design variables are selected to obtain the optimized solutions by the NSGA-II. The optimization results show that the optimized DAH reduces the weight by 13.9%, the material cost by 11.7%, the fatigue test period by 34.9%, and the computational effort by 26.5%. Thus, the optimization solution through the PDRM is efficient, economical, and reliable, which provides a good reference for the low-cost, sustainable production of DAHs.