Static Stiffness Optimization of Rubber Absorber Based on Taguchi Method

Static stiffness is an important property to ensure good bearings capacity performance of rubber absorber. Taking BE-300 type rubber absorber as an example, in order to obtain desirable static stiffness, Taguchi orthogonal design is proposed in this study based on the finite element method(FEM) replacing the practical test. Firstly, the FEM model of original rubber absorber which is consistent with practical test is established through constitutive test of rubber material. Dimensional parameters are one of the key factors affecting static stiffness, regarding bottom clearance height, rubber support layer thickness, width of support bearings and distance between large radius and small radius as controllable factors to design orthogonal FEM model by using Taguchi orthogonal methods. 25s FEM models with different level of controllable factors combinations are built based on the established FEM analysis technique. For each controllable factors combination scheme, the mean sensitivity parameters are calculated to evaluate the incidence of each controllable factor. The result show that the width of support bearings is a dominant factor affecting static stiffness. Finally, the optimization scheme can be proposed based on sensitivity analysis. Compared with the result from orthogonal optimization simulation and practical test, the static stiffness is much closer to the desired value. The study demonstrate that the orthogonal simulation is a useful approach for designing rubber absorber to specified static stiffness. (paper)