Multiobjective optimization for foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structures under lateral impact

Abstract Nowadays, foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structure (FMTS) has been widely used in the field of automotive due to their extraordinary energy absorption capacity and light weight. In this study, nine kinds of FMTSs with different cross-sectional configurations under lateral crushing load conditions were investigated using nonlinear finite element method through LS-DYNA. The complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) method was used to make clear which kind of FMTSs has the most excellent crashworthiness. According to this method, it can be found that FMTSs with 2, 3 and 9 cells are the top-3 excellent structures in our considered cases. In order to improve the crashworthiness of the three FMTSs, they were optimized by metamodel-based multiobjective optimization method which was developed by employing polynomial regression (PR) metamodel and multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm. In the optimization process, we aimed to achieve maximum value of specific energy absorption (SEA) and minimum value of maximum impact force (MIF). Based on the comparison of the Pareto fronts obtained by multiobjective optimization, we can find that FMTS with 9 cells (FTMT9) performs better than FMTSs with 2 and 3 cells. Thus, the optimal design of FMTS9 is exactly an excellent energy absorption candidate under lateral impact and can be used in the future vehicle body.

[1]  F. Rammerstorfer,et al.  Crushing of axially compressed steel tubes filled with aluminium foam , 1997 .

[2]  T. Wierzbicki,et al.  Relative merits of single-cell, multi-cell and foam-filled thin-walled structures in energy absorption , 2001 .

[3]  Tomasz Wierzbicki,et al.  Effect of an ultralight metal filler on the bending collapse behavior of thin-walled prismatic columns , 1999 .

[4]  Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas,et al.  A multiple criteria decision support on-line system for construction , 2007, Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell..

[5]  M. Kröger,et al.  Bending behavior of empty and foam-filled beams: Structural optimization , 2008 .

[6]  Qing Li,et al.  Parametric analysis and multiobjective optimization for functionally graded foam-filled thin-wall tube under lateral impact , 2014 .

[7]  Jilin Yu,et al.  Dynamic bending response of double cylindrical tubes filled with aluminum foam , 2011 .

[8]  O. Hopperstad,et al.  Validation of constitutive models applicable to aluminium foams , 2002 .

[9]  Larsgunnar Nilsson,et al.  Evaluation of response surface methodologies used in crashworthiness optimization , 2006 .

[10]  Wei Li,et al.  Crashworthiness design for foam filled thin-wall structures , 2009 .

[11]  Carlos A. Coello Coello,et al.  Handling multiple objectives with particle swarm optimization , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation.

[12]  Franc Kosel,et al.  Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of Elasto-Plastic Cyclic Torsion of a Tubular Element , 2011 .

[13]  Zhiliang Tang,et al.  Comparisons of honeycomb sandwich and foam-filled cylindrical columns under axial crushing loads , 2011 .

[14]  G. Cheng,et al.  Theoretical prediction and numerical simulation of multi-cell square thin-walled structures , 2006 .

[15]  O. Hopperstad,et al.  Constitutive modeling of aluminum foam including fracture and statistical variation of density , 2003 .

[16]  Hasan Kurtaran,et al.  Crashworthiness design optimization using successive response surface approximations , 2002 .

[17]  N. Fleck,et al.  Isotropic constitutive models for metallic foams , 2000 .

[18]  Hui Zhang,et al.  Energy absorption of multi-cell stub columns under axial compression , 2013 .

[19]  Guilin Wen,et al.  Crashworthiness optimization design for foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structures , 2014 .

[20]  H. R. Zarei,et al.  Bending Behavior of Empty and Foam-Filled Aluminum Tubes with Different Cross-Sections , 2012 .

[21]  Prasenjit Chatterjee,et al.  Material selection using preferential ranking methods , 2012 .

[22]  Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas,et al.  SELECTION OF THE EFFECTIVE DWELLING HOUSE WALLS BY APPLYING ATTRIBUTES VALUES DETERMINED AT INTERVALS , 2008 .

[23]  Prasenjit Chatterjee,et al.  Materials selection using complex proportional assessment and evaluation of mixed data methods , 2011 .

[24]  Masoud Rais-Rohani,et al.  A comparative study of metamodeling methods for multiobjective crashworthiness optimization , 2005 .

[25]  Qing Li,et al.  Crushing analysis of foam-filled single and bitubal polygonal thin-walled tubes , 2014 .

[26]  Weigang Chen,et al.  Experimental and numerical study on bending collapse of aluminum foam-filled hat profiles , 2001 .

[27]  Qing Li,et al.  Multiobjective optimization for crash safety design of vehicles using stepwise regression model , 2008 .

[28]  Zonghua Zhang,et al.  Analysis of energy absorption characteristics of cylindrical multi-cell columns , 2013 .

[29]  Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas,et al.  Multicriteria selection of project managers by applying grey criteria , 2008 .

[30]  David W. Corne,et al.  Approximating the Nondominated Front Using the Pareto Archived Evolution Strategy , 2000, Evolutionary Computation.

[31]  G. Gary Wang,et al.  Review of Metamodeling Techniques in Support of Engineering Design Optimization , 2007 .

[32]  Shiwei Zhou,et al.  Crashworthiness design for functionally graded foam-filled thin-walled structures , 2010 .