Failure analysis-based mass reduction of an aluminium alloy engine mounting bracket using Design of Experiments approach

In this study, mass reduction of an engine mounting bracket has been performed without changing the failure mode. Firstly, failure modes were determined experimentally using failure loads provided by the vehicle manufacturer. Then critical stress concentration areas and suitable mass reduction regions were determined by using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for these load cases. A structural optimisation process was carried out using Design of Experiment-Response Surface Methodology (DOE-RSM) to minimise the mass while keeping the failure load as constant as possible. When the stress values obtained from the preliminary structure are compared with the values obtained from the optimised part, it was seen that this target has been mostly achieved. A total mass reduction of 4.31 % was achieved in the new part through failure mode analysis. Furthermore, it was found that a financial saving of 129,000 Euro could also be achieved.