OPTIMIZATION DESIGN OF ALU FOAM-FILLED S-SHAPE SQUARE TUBE UNDER AXIAL DYNAMIC LOADING

Abstract

This paper presents finite element simulation of the crash behavior and the energy absorption characteristics of S-shape square tubes which were fully or partially filled with aluminum foams. Base on the numerical results, it is found that, the density, the length of the filled foam and the thickness of tube directly affect the specific energy absorption (SEA) and peak crushing force (PCF) of the S-shape tubes. In this paper, the multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm is employed to seek for optimal designs for the partial foam-filled S-shape tubes (PFSTs) and the full foam-filled S-shape tubes (FFSTs) with various design parameters such as the density, the length of filled foam and the thickness of tube, where response surface models are established to formulation SEA and PCF. The optimization results showed the energy absorption capability per unit mass of the PFSTs is more powerful than that of the FFSTs while the PCF constrained under the same level.