A Study on Lightweight Design of Double Deck High-Speed Train Hybrid Carbody Using Material Substitution and Size Optimization Method

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a lightweight design for the aluminum extrusion carbody structure of a double deck high-speed train using material substitution and size optimization method. In order to conduct material substitution, the topology optimization was used to determine the application parts of sandwich composites at the carbody structures. The results of analysis showed that sandwich composites could be applied at roof and 2nd underframe. The size optimization was used to determine thickness of the aluminum extruded and carbon/epoxy composite. The design variable, state constraint and objective function were formulated to solve the size optimization, and then, the feasible design was presented by these conditions. The results of the lightweight design showed that the weight of double deck high-speed train hybrid carbody could be reduced by 2.18(17.70%) tons.