HOOK LINK FEA OPTIMIZATION

The hook link design project was an end of term optimization project for my finite element analysis class. In this project, students were handed a unique length and radius steel hook to optimize, with the main goals of reducing material, yet maintaining the maximum stress be below the yield stress (163 MPa) and ensuring that the maximum deflection experienced by the hook be no more than 0.2 mm.

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The hook was subjected to 60 MPa of uniform pressure pulling on the hook. As well, the primary constraints in this project were that the length and original material of the hook could not be altered.

Through 4 iterations, I arrived at a much lighter design that met both stress and deflection requirements. My design process began by simply thinning out the hook, which as expected increased both the maximum stress and deflection. By applying fillets and slots, I eventually reached iteration 4 which met all the criteria. The final design was 38% lighter, experienced 24% less maximum stress which was below the yield stress of steel (141.31 MPa), and increased maximum displacement by 79%, yet remained below the 0.2 mm constraint (0.090141 mm).

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Similar to the quench tank CFD optimization project, although this course project was small in scope and had predefined constraints, it was a good exercise that allowed me to become familiar with ANSYS APDL and learn about FEA processes. As with CFD, mesh sensitivity and convergence are paramount when carrying out a proper finite element analysis, and this project, along with many others in the course highlighted this.

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