Optimized Stiffness Design of Rubber Bushings with Metal Inserts

Rubber bushings play a critical role in the overall vehicle handling and stability of vehicles. In the paper, a method is proposed to optimize the design of rubber bushing with metal inserts for four-directional stiffness: radial stiffness, axial stiffness, yaw stiffness and torsional stiffness. Firstly, the Ogden model is used as the material constitutive model of the rubber bushing, and the finite element analysis method for the calculation of the static stiffness of the bushing is established according to this model. The static stiffness calculation model of the bushing is verified through the measured six-directional stiffness of the bushing's. A multi-objective optimization model is then established, targeting the anisotropic stiffness as design objectives, and a genetic algorithm is employed to solve the model. According to the optimization results, a prototype rubber bushing with metal inserts was manufactured. The radial stiffness, axial stiffness, yaw stiffness and torsional stiffness were measured to validate the optimization results.