Modeling And Structural Optimization Of A Container-carrying AGV

Container-carrying vehicles is one of the most popular transport vehicles for seaports.It requires a strong mechanical structure to support the container’s weight.All over the world,seaports logistic operations are transformed and require the use of automated container-carrying vehicles(AGV).This document studies the structure of these new types of vehicles with two objectives.The first one is to analyze these vehicle’s chassis physical behavior.To do so,a container-carrying AGV prototype is studied through a physical experiment.Then,this prototype’s numerical model is created with Catia V5 and analyzed using finite element analysis(FEA).The FEA results are compared to the static experiment to ensure its accuracy and reliability to pursue this thesis’ s second objective.The second objective is to modify the structure to reduce its weight and to make it shippable by port container.While reducing the AGV’s weight is fundamental to increase the batteries autonomy,the second structural modification has another purpose.Indeed,making the vehicle shippable by port container aims to ease its delivery process from the factory to seaports.The simulation’s results show the structural weight can be reduced by 27%without impacting its mechanical properties.A manufacturable solution is designed to make the structure shippable in a 45 ft container.