Design for Safety of Complex Structural Systems: Crashworthiness and Survivability

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

This grant provides funding to develop a computer-based methodology for design and optimization of complex structural systems for safety, enhanced crash-worthiness, and survivability in the event of a crash. Special emphasis is placed on the evolution and optimization of the design, from the initial, conceptual stages, to later stages of detailed design. The computer-based model will allow the assessment and optimization of the performance of a structural system across different stages of the design process, including conceptual stages, and stages where different components are represented in different levels of design detail. A wavelet-based multi-scale analysis will provide the mathematical framework that allows the mapping of models of the same system across different levels of resolution. Algorithms will accommodate a reasonably rich subset of the component models already in use in industrial practice, for example, commercially available finite element models. Optimization algorithms will be developed to deal with some of the peculiar features of structural design for safety problems such as a large number of design variables, non-smooth functions, and computationally very costly function evaluations. The most obvious applications of this work will be in automotive and aircraft industries. If successful this work will lead to improvements in the design of vehicles for enhanced passenger and cargo protection. The methods and tools developed under this grant will provide engineers with a better understanding of the process of energy management in the event of a crash and with new computer models and algorithms to facilitate the process of designing structures where a livable volume is provided for the occupants throughout a crash sequence.