Structural analysis and optimization of machine structure for the measurement of cutting force for wood
Aditya Sharma, Sashank Thapa, Bhaskar Goel, Raj Kumar, Tej Singh
Abstract
Structural Integrity and its response to the subjected cutting forces during machining, plays a vital role in the performance and the life of the machine tool. The machine tool must meet the demands of the stiffness and easy maintenance; in absence of this the desired machining accuracy during cutting operation is not achieved. While at the same time the machine structure cannot be made heavy which increases the manufacturing cost. The use of stiffener plates is a solution to this problem. However, the selection of the appropriate locations of stiffener plates based on only designer’s design knowledge and experience may not lead to desired results. Hence, Structural analysis in conjunction with the structural optimization methods are employed for getting optimized structures. In this paper, experimental results obtained from the cutting force measuring machine which was manufactured for the experiment were used to analyse and optimize the structure of machine tool. The analysis and optimization were done with the help of Finite element methods technique (Optistruct solver) and modelling being done in Hypermesh. The optimized structure with stiffeners, led to the decrease in the maximum displacement thus increasing the stiffness of the machine structure while avoiding resonance.