Design and sustainability aspects of reducing the weight of a metallic structure in bus front overhang
Hosamani, Pratik (2021)
Diplomityö
Hosamani, Pratik
2021
School of Energy Systems, Konetekniikka
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021110854261
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021110854261
Tiivistelmä
Transportation consumes about 26% share of total world energy use and is an indispensable part of economic development and human well-being. Road transportation accounts for nearly three fourth of energy use within the transportation sector and this reliance on road vehicles is expected to rise with a continued increase in economic development. Such a growth is linked to an increased greenhouse gas emission, that is about 23% share of world energy related greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, there exist stricter safety and emission regulations that necessitate more components within a vehicle to fulfill those requirements, thereby increasing vehicle mass. There is, therefore, a need for increasing energy efficiency within vehicles such that they adhere to legal demands and are sustainable, both environmentally and economically. Reducing the mass of vehicle is one of the methods to achieve energy efficiency, as it directly lowers the mass and cost of raw materials that goes into a vehicle during manufacturing, and results in an energy efficient product that needs lesser energy to move and generates lower emission. This research evaluates a section of bus body structure that is in serial production and determines the extent of mass that can be reduced without compromising its safety and legal demands. It also reviews the sustainability aspects related to this mass reduction. The research investigates the loading conditions and associated legal requirements that a bus body is subjected to and develops a methodology for mass reduction. Furthermore, concepts are generated based on this methodology and validated against the load conditions using Finite Element simulation. Finally, the simulation results are summarized, masses of existing versus proposed body structure are compared, and a flowchart of the process is presented. The research achieves its aim of determining potential mass reduction in a section of body structure by considering certain load cases. However, higher mass reduction can be achieved by extending the study and methodology developed in this thesis to the entire body structure