Integrated topology and packaging optimization for conceptual-level electric vehicle chassis design via the component-existence method

Conventional vehicle architectures are undergoing significant transformation as automakers embrace electrification. With increased emphasis on lightweight structures design and efficient packaging of new electric powertrains, numerical tools are now essential to help solve these complex material and component distribution problems. To address these challenges, methods for integrated topology and packaging optimization (iTOPO) have been developed to couple these problem statements and form dynamic component-structure interactions. In this work, a component-existence approach is used for conducting iTOPO of self-contained electric vehicle chassis structures to demonstrate the benefits and scalability of this emerging methodology. Examples focus on incorporating simplified components for battery modules and electric motors within the underlying vehicle structure, integrating up to 43 components simultaneously in a 3D design domain. Here, discussion highlights the development of unique integrated layouts, methodology tunability, and practical insights of the formed component-structure interactions. iTOPO results are also compared to equivalent topology-only problems and show less than a 10% difference in compliance despite the addition of various complex integration requirements (e.g. multiple geometries, packaging symmetry).