Abstrait

Design Optimisation and Buckling Analysis of Tube in Tube Drag Link

K. H. Aravind Kumar*, A. Vijayanand and S. Arul Selvan

Drag link is an integral part of vehicle’s steering system. It is a linkage that connections Drop Arm attached to the Steering gear output shaft and the steering arm, controlling the movement of the front wheel. The requirement of the project is to increase the buckling load capacity of drag link. To increase the buckling load capacity of the drag, link a tube in tube concept is used. The tube is placed in such a way to increase the buckling strength of the steel tube. The testing of drag link is also done with computerised drag link testing facility rig. The results obtained from test rig are compared with the buckling load values obtained from the FEA results. Cost effective products can be achieved using design optimization. Modelling of drag link is done using CREO software. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model of drag link is analysed using ABAQUS software. The drag link model is optimised by placing a tube with a diameter equal to inner diameter of the drag link tube