Optimization of reinforced members for crash safety design of vehicles

CAE technology has been widely applied for the crash safety design of vehicles. Nevertheless, an optimum design approach has not been completed for the crash behavior of the vehicles because of the nonlinearity of the dynamic problem. The authors have proposed a Statistical Design Support System (SDSS), and suggested this is one of the available optimal approaches for nonlinear and dynamic problems such as the vehicles. In this study, the SDSS was applied for the multiobjective optimization design of the main reinforced members of a vehicle. The thicknesses of each member were chosen as the design variables, and the total weight and the deformation of the cabin as the multi-objective functions. It was shown that the SDSS could satisfactorily be used as a practical multi-objective optimization design tool for the crash safety design of vehicles, and the design cycle could be significantly reduced using SDSS. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 37 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509