Maximization of the crushing energy absorption of cylindrical shells

This paper concerns with the development of the crashworthiness maximization technique for tubular structures, and the application to the axial crushing problems of cylindrical tubes. In the program system presented in this study, an explicit finite element code, DYNA3D is adopted for simulating complicated crushing behavior of tubular structures. A series of aluminum cylindrical tubes are tested under axial impact condition for the experimental validation of the numerical solutions. Moreover, the response surface approximation technique is applied to construct an approximated design subproblem for optimization in the pre-assigned design space by using the technique of design-of-experiment. The approximated subproblem is then solved by the usual mathematical programming technique. These optimization processes are repeated until the given convergence conditions are satisfied. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.