Optimal Design of Cellular Material Systems for Crashworthiness

Abstract

This work proposes a new method to design crashworthiness structures that made of functionally graded cellular (porous) material. The proposed method consists of three stages: The first stage is to generate a conceptual design using a topology optimization algorithm so that a variable density is distributed within the structure minimizing its compliance. The second stage is to cluster the variable density using a machine-learning algorithm to reduce the dimension of the design space. The third stage is to maximize structural crashworthiness indicators (e.g., internal energy absorption) and minimize mass using a metamodel-based multi-objective genetic algorithm. The final structure is synthesized by optimally selecting cellular material phases from a predefined material library. In this work, the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds are derived for the two-phase cellular material, and the structure performances are compared to the optimized structures derived by our proposed framework. In comparison to traditional structures that made of a single cellular phase, the results demonstrate the improved performance when multiple cellular phases are used.

Cellular Structure Design and Manufacturability for Electric Vehicle: A Review

“…Thus, the study of cellular structure is still fascinating and can be developed. The application of the cellular structure in the automotive sector has begun to be applied by engineers, as in [5]- [7]. The application of cellular structures is not only limited to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles.…”