Reducing mass of collision absorber construction using structural optimization methods

The issue of mitigation in the public transportation and rail systems sector is an issue that is directly encountered in vehicle specifications, which directly affects energy efficiency, and therefore has a significant impact on costs. Various studies are carried out to reduce weight in all transportation branches, different types of materials are used, optimization, part reduction, etc. more lightness is aimed with the works. The subject of lightening gains much more importance in land transportation due to very intensive use and high production numbers. As the weight issue gains importance, even the smallest amount of lightness provided, regardless of the vehicle's own weight or the overall weight, adds a high amount of value to the work done, the decrease in the amount of use, and therefore the national economy. Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Finite Element Analysis are the basis of most of today's R&D studies. This results in a significant reduction in both prototype costs and the number of actual tests. Within the scope of this thesis, structural analyzes of the collision damping structure of the tram, which is a light rail system vehicle designed to be used in urban public transportation, were carried out within the scope of EN 12663 standard. Static analysis of the construction structure in front of the collision dampers was made with Hyperworks Program, and topology and shape optimization were made by keeping the stress and displacements at safe values. As a result, a %24,1 lighter design has emerged while maintaining the stress and displacement amounts. Three-dimensional tetrahedron elements were used while creating the finite element model. Mechanical properties of ST-37 steel are defined as material information. Ansys finite element software program was used to determine the necessary and appropriate mesh size for the analysis, and the Catia v5 design program was used to create and modify the three-dimensional model.