Crashworthiness Design Optimization of Energy-Absorbing Rails for the Automotive Industry

Abstract

Abstract Optimum crashworthiness design of the vehicle rail structure is one of the crucial tasks in designing crashworthy vehicles that render better occupant protection. The usual trial-and-error approach in selecting the optimum design parameters, in order to maximize the energy absorbing capacity of the rail structure, is computationally expensive and cumbersome; particularly when there are several design parameters to be properly selected. Optimization methods can be used to automate the search for the optimum design parameters. In the current research, an efficient design optimization methodology is presented and utilized to obtain optimum crashworthiness design of the energy-absorbing rail structures. The methodology adopted in this research makes use of Design of Experiments (DOE) based approximation methods, numerical optimization algorithms and structural analysis software. The design optimization approach has been devoted to structural impact applications. The nonlinear explicit Finite Element (FE) code LS-DYNA was used to conduct the rail impact problems and generate the energy function to be maximized. Several design parameters have been proposed and used to optimize the rail structure. The results indicated the promising capabilities of the developed methodology for design optimization of the energy-absorbing rails in automotive industry.