Finite element analysis and optimization of the boom of aerial fire truck
WU Cai sheng1, YUAN Qing ke1, WU Qiang1, GENG Li2, XIE Shui dong2
(1.Department of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, 
China;2.Guangdong Yongqiang Olin Treasure International Fire Automobile Co., Ltd., Dongguan 523407, China)


Abstract: Aiming at the complicated calculation and low precision of traditional mechanical methods for checking up the strength and stiffness, the too thick design of the boom system, the heavy fire truck mounted system, easy tilting and other issues in the process of using of the aerial fire truck, the static and dynamic characteristics of the boom and the parametric optimization of the boom were studied and the finite element method was applied to the static analysis and modal analysis of the boom, so it can fleetly and accurately calculate the strength and the first 4 natural frequencies of the boom and the corresponding vibration modes of the boom under the two limiting conditions. The parametric finite element method was combined with the multi constrained nonlinear quadratic programming method to optimize the parameters of the boom. The optimization iteration algorithm was integrated into the whole process of finite element analysis, fast search for global optimal solution. The results show that the maximum equivalent stress reduces by 7.3 MPa, and arm frame volume decreases by 16.5% after the optimization of the boom section, which achieve the goal of the lightweight of the arm frame.

Key words: aerial fire truck; boom; static analysis; modal analysis; optimization.