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Abstract
The heavy-duty truck chassis frame is the major part supporting the entire cargo stable under all vehicle operating conditions. The vehicle frame must ensure strength and rigidity to be able to withstand vibrations and impacts that cause torsion, bending and oscillation while travelling on the road. Heavy-duty truck frame often has body-on-frame structure, which makes up the primary mass of the vehicle. Currently, the research and development on chassis frame tend to focus on reducing the self-weight of trucks in order to improve vehicle fuel efficiency as well as to cut down emission. Improving the chassis frame structure in terms of light-weight aspect while remaining its performance, durability and lifetime. This study proposes a method to reduce the weight of the chassis by creating holes on the frame member to reduce frame chassis weight. The location and size of holes are determined after analysing an existing truck manufactured in Vietnam. Proposed study cases were simulated and evaluated through numerical simulation using the finite element analysis method. The improved design in this paper help reducing the weight of the chassis by about 2,65%.