Optimum design of straight thin-walled box section beams for crashworthiness analysis

This paper provides an optimum design for regular thin-walled box section beams on their cross-sectional profiles. The thin-walled box beams with optimized cross-sectional dimensions perform ideally during the crashworthiness analysis. In this paper, the response surface method (RSM) is utilized to formulate the complex design problem. During the optimum design, the specific energy absorption (SEA) is set as the design objective, and it is constrained by the maximum crushing force (P.) and the cross-sectional dimensions. Detailed finite element (FE) models are created for such thin-walled box beams which are used for the design optimization. Finally, simplified FE models for these beams are also created for the same design process. Optimal design obtained with the simplified models is compared to the design achieved from the detailed models to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the simplified models. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.