Lightweight design for hydraulic support

In large inclined angle mining condition, in order to decrease the effect of sliding force, a lightweight design for hydraulic support is presented in this paper. Taking minimum mass of top beam as optimization objective, the three-dimensional model of it is built firstly. The whole top beam is simplified into top plate, side plate, bottom plate and main reinforcement on the premise of unchanging its topology configuration, and only strength constraint is chosen as constraint, which reduces the number of constraint functions and calculation cycles. By means of ANSYS zero-order optimization module, the mass of top beam is decreased about 16.9%. Finally, the optimal lightweight structure is fully evaluated under the same load as pre-optimization, and finite element analysis results prove that its stress and strain satisfy the need of strength. This lightweight design measure is used in the practical manufacturing with a lower cost of materials, which also increases the stability of hydraulic support in large inclined angle mining condition.