The Parametric Finite Element Analysis Optimization

Technique of Car body Structure Based on APDL and

Its Applicatins
Yu Yan Wang

Li Ping Sun

Jian Zhang

School of Traffic and Transportation

Engineering
Dalian Jiaotong University
Dalian China
e-mail: wyydl@djtu.edu.cn

School of Traffic and Transportation

Engineering
Dalian Jiaotong University
Dalian China
e-mail: slp@djtu.edu.cn

School of Traffic and Transportation

Engineering
Dalian Jiaotong University
Dalian China
e-mail: zhangjian@djtu.edu.cn

AbstractBased on the ANSYS Parametric Design Language

(APDL), the parametric FEA optimization technique is applied to
a railway electricity generator car body structure optimal design
procedure. Parametric finite element model of the car body is
constructed using APDL language. The car body structure is
optimized. The strength and stiffness of the car body are
analyzed before and after optimization. The optimization results
show that the car body structure can meet the demands of
performance indexes in aspects of strength, stiffness, and etc.
This example demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the
proposed optimization procedure in parametric and optimization
design.
Keywords- parameter design; optimal design; APDL;
finite element method; car body

I.

INTRODUCTION

Car body structure lightening design is an important

researching direction of rolling stock. Reduction of body
weight can not only save material, but also improve operation
performance. In order to study the key technique of car body
structure lightening and apply it to the product design of rolling
stock. Taken an electricity generator car as an example,
compiled command files using secondary development
language APDL of ANSYS software, and then constructed a
parametric finite element model of car body, so the parametric
finite element analysis of the generator car body is realized. A
feasible method of high efficient car body structure design is
acquired. The car body structure is optimized subsequently
using optimization function of ANASYS, and given the
optimization design method of car body.
II.

OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUE OF PARAMETRIC FINITE

ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Parametric FEA method based on the idea of parametric

design combining with FEA can realize the parametric
geometry, parametric finite element model and parametric
post-process. By adjusting the corresponding parameters the
analysis model can be built automatically and the process of
FEA is automatically executed. The remarkable effect of this
method is that it is more convenient to realize a number of

projects to be compared and many kinds of structure,

dimensions and loads to be analyzed. Through the modification
of characteristic parameters, the new analysis command files
are acquired. The core of parametric FEA is to program the
variable parameter files of parametric FEA. Through the
modification of characteristic parameters, the new analysis
command files are acquired. The whole FEA process may be
achieved through the parametric user program written by the
APDL language and ANSYS commands. W.Chen at [1] and
G.B.Gao at [2] give the introduction of this method and its
applications.
Structure optimization design which can be executed with
the optimization methods promoted by ANSYS requires that
the model of the finite element must be parametric. F.Lan at [3]
and J.Zhou at [4] give the methods of setting parameters based
on the FEA model, and then running the optimization.
The lighting weight design can be realized through
parametric FEA method combining with Finite optimization
design on ANSYS. The method which uses APDL during
optimization design avoids most repeated operations of finite
element modeling and post-process, and improves the design
efficiency obviously. [5] and [6] have given the APDL
parametric optimization design methods of a three-bar truss
and bogie frame for High speed electric locomotive, but the
introductions of parametric analysis process on APDL are very
few.
In order to realizing parametric FEA and lighting design of
the large scale structure as car body and improving design
efficiency, this paper gives the key approach and method of
parametric FEA and optimization design of generator car body
with APDL. That will provide the reference for the vehicle
designer.
III.

PARAMETRIC FEA OF GENERATOR CAR BODY

STRUCTURE

A. Parametric Geometry Model of Generator Car Body

The steel structure of generator car body which has center
sill is full welded structure with cylindrical thin-walled and
integral load-carrying. There are three rooms for generator car,

This work is supported by the Department of Science and Technology of

Liaoning Province (2008220044).It is also supported by the Department of
Education of Liaoning Province (2008S034).

978-1-4244-4994-1/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

one is generator room and the others are power distribution

rooms. There are steel partition walls between the rooms. The
No. 2 car end roof is cut to flat roof for the installation of air
conditions. There are removable covers on the roof. Car body
structure is composed of four parts, roof, side wall, end wall
and under frame, which are all plate beam load-carrying
structures. Through the modification of beam layout, the whole
model can be modified. So the spatial location of beam is
particularly important for finite element modeling.
The structure of car body which is symmetrical on the
longitudinal symmetry plane is the same as the vertical static
load cases and lengthwise compression cases. The half of car
body is modeled. During car body modeling some commands
of iterative operations can be replaced by loop sentences to
reduce the program scale and also improve the modeling speed.
Parameters are input in dialog frame of multi-line prompting
built by multiple-command. Fig.1 shows the simplified figure of
1/2 steel car body structure.

sheet and the need of optimization. The beam section defines

the plane geometry configuration on the direction of normal to
axes. ANSYS software provides a library for beam section
which contains 11 types of commonly used beam sections. The
user can build new beam section at the same time. Based on the
beam shapes of car body, 30 series of beam sections are
defined.
The finite element mesh is achieved by command files. So
the size and shape of elements can be changed through the
corresponding parameters modified. The meshing should
correspond to the geometry model dimensions, and the design
makes some groups for different plate thickness and beam
section and uses commands as circulation, array, macro etc. to
reduce the program scale of finite element modeling that
increases the modeling speed and is convenient for the
parametric operation. If some parts are modified, the mesh
need not be regenerated. For instance, when the underframe
cross beam increase holes to lighten weight, the finite element
model can be regenerated automatically as long as the program
running again.
Fig.2 shows the finite element model of parametric car
body. The finite element model has no significant difference
comparing to the general model. However, the major plate
thickness and dimension of beam section are all parameters.

Figure 1. Simplified figure of 1/2 steel car body structure

B. Finite Element Modeling of Generator Car Body

The geometry model of car body is meshed in accordance
with the mechanical properties and size of car body parts. The
key of finite element modeling of car body are the selection of
element type, the definition of element property, the size and
shape of element and meshing method. The elastic four-node
shell element Shell 63 and three-dimensional linear two-node
space beam element Beam 188 are selected. Each node of
Beam 188 element has six degrees of freedom that can realize
the coupling of shell element and beam element. There are the
merits of excellent section definition function and visualization
feature in beam 188 element. However the definition of
direction key point of every beam section must be defined, so it
is not convenient for the complex modeling. Most of the
components such as buffer beam, draft sill, center sill, body
bolster, bottom side sill, cross beam, roof sheet, floor, side
wall, end wall and steel partition, etc. are all modeled by shell
element, but some beams of side wall, roof, end wall and some
smaller section beams of underframe are modeled by beam
element. The plate thickness of car body and beam section can
be defined as parameter. The real constant definition of
element shell 63 is mainly the element thickness. The 49 kinds
of shell real constants are defined according to the car body

Figure 2. Finite element model of 1/2 car body

C. Parametric Load Calculation

Due to the running car body structure subjected to all
kinds of dynamic and static loads, different load cases are
selected for strength calculation of FEA based on criterion
TB/T 1335-1996, Specification for Design and Test Appraisal
of Railway Car Strength.
There are three calculation cases selected for strength
analysis, namely the vertical static, total vertical and 980kN
lengthwise stretch, total vertical load case and 980kN
lengthwise compression load cases. Parametric load calculation
is to apply the parametric load based on the characteristic of
load. The program automatically accomplishes the parametric
calculations of different loads according to the importation of
different load cases.

D. Parametric Load CalculationParametric Ppostprocessing

Based on ANSYS
The purpose of parametric post-processing is to feed back
the FEA results of car boy quickly, and realize the comparison
of results with different structures and loads, and then to
proceed the following optimization design. The parametric
post-processing based on ANSYS is realized easily. The user
can quickly acquire the desired calculation results through the
results classified by the command driving of ANSYS.

structure almost control the majority element number of roof,

so only four design variables can represent the roof during the
optimization. Otherwise some beams such as diesel generator
mounting bracket etc at which appear high stress during the
static FEA or have special functions all can not run
optimization. However, their stresses are checked after
optimization. According to the static FEA results of car body,
the thickness parameters include 20 variables and the width
and length parameters include 16 variables.

The calculation results of car body structure show that the

deformation of car body is harmonious and the stress is
distributed reasonably; there is a phenomenon of stress focus in
local high stress positions; there is stress storage in the lower
stress positions. So the design performs the car body
optimization.

The constraint condition can be divided into performance

constraint and boundary constraint. Performance constraint is
the constraint of the strength and stiffness, which is to say that
the stress and the displacement should meet the requirement of
criterion. Generator car body structure mainly adopts three
kinds of material, namely weathering steel 09CuPCrNi-B,
stainless steel 1Cr18Ni9Ti and carbon steel Q235A. So the
stress constrain is that the max Von Mises stress should be
less than or equal to [] which is the permissible stress of
material under different load cases. The values of permissible
stress are 161MPa of carbon steel, 184MPa of weathering steel
and 188MPa of stainless steel. The stiffness constrains of
vertical bending are that EJ of center sill is greater than or
equal to 1.30109 Nm2 and EJ of side wall is greater than or
equal to 1.80109 Nm2 .The optimization design selects the
permissible stress of material as constrain condition.

Figure 3. Von Mises stress of the lengthwise stretch and vertical load case

Boundary constrain is also known as the interval constrain

which is used to specify the span of design variable. According
to the experience and technological requirements, the upper
and lower limits of variation for the thickness of plate and
beam of car body can be chose.
1) The selection of optimization calculation case
The third load case is the most dangerous case according to
the static strength analysis, so the optimization analysis is run
under the third load case. Finally through bringing back the
new optimization variables to original car body model, the
strength and stiffness are checked over again to satisfy the
requirement of the criterion.
2) The mathematical model of car body optimization
based on ANSYS
The optimization design adopts the zero order optimization
method:

Figure 4. Von Mises stress of the lengthwise compression and vertical load
case

IV.

GENERATOR CAR BODY OPTIMIZATION DESIGN

A. Mathematical Model of Car Body Optimization Design

The purpose of the optimization is to realize the lightening
weight of car body. So the mass of car body steel structure is
selected as object function in order to make the minimum of
car body mass in the condition of certain items fulfilled. The
selection of optimization variables mainly aims at the beam
sections and the plate thicknesses which have effect on the load
carrying ability and have greater contribution to the car body
optimization. For example, the roof sheet and carline of roof

a) Firstly select some plate thickness as the optimization

variables, and set the permissible stresses of different
materials as constrain conditions based on the requirement of
criterion;
b) Secondly select some section dimensions and plate
thickness as optimization variables and make the first
optimization results as initial values at the same constrain
conditions.
Fig.5 and Fig.6 show the variations of constrain conditions
and the mass of car body during the first optimization process.
B. Results Analysis of Car Body Optimization Design
Table 1 shows the initial values of design variables and
optimization results after two steps of optimization. The
strength of the optimized car body model is analyzed. The

results show that in accordance with the criterion the stresses

beyond the permission are limited. Through optimization the
mass of car body is reduced 811.3kg, which is 8.4% of car
body weight.

analysis file including the entire analysis process with

parametric method of APDL and commands. The parametric
FEA program of generator car body is written and the plate
thickness and beam sections are optimized. The optimization
results show that the mass of car body is reduced 811.3kg,
which is 8.4% of car body weight, at the same time the
stiffness and intensity can meet the requirement. It validates the
feasibility of this method.

Figure 5. Change of constrains during the optimization

Figure 7. Von Mises stress of optimized car body under the lengthwise
stretch and vertical load case

Figure 6. Change of mass during the optimization

TABLE I.

COMPARISON SHEET OF PLATE THICKNESS AND BEAM

SECTIONS BEFORE AND AFTER OPTIMIZATION

Before
optimization
mm

After
optimization
(mm)

End wall transom

8.0
10.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
8.0
8.0
6.0
70h40h3

7.0
8.0
1.5
1.5
1.5
6.0
6.0
7.0
40h40h2.5

End wall post

40h30h3

40h30h2.5

50h30h2.5
50h32h2.5
25h70h35
h2.5
37h65h50
h2.5

40h25h2.0
40h30h2.0
25h60h30
h2.0
30h60h40
h2.0

Design variables

Body bolster web plate thickness

Accumulator hangeroil tank hanger
Roof thickness
Side wall plate thickness
Steel partition wall thickness
Reinforcement plate thickness
Body bolster top cover plate thickness
style cross bearer

Steel partition wall

Side wall longitudinal sill
Side wall post
Carline

V.

Figure 8. Von Mises stress of optimized car body under the lengthwise
compression and vertical load case

VI.
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

CONCLUSIONS

The optimization design of ANSYS software adopts the

batch method. The major analysis process is set up parametric

[6]

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