Multi-objective optimization of tapered tubes for crashworthiness by surrogate methodologies

In this paper, the single and multi-objective optimization of thin-walled conical tubes with different types of indentations under axial impact has been investigated using surrogate models called metamodels. The geometry of tapered thin-walled tubes has been studied in order to achieve maximum specific energy absorption (SEA) and minimum peak crushing force (PCF). The height, radius, thickness, tapered angle of the tube, and the radius of indentation have been considered as design variables. Based on the design of experiments (DOE) method, the generated sample points are computed using the explicit finite element code. Different surrogate models including Kriging, Feed Forward Neural Network (FNN), Radial Basis Neural Network (RNN), and Response Surface Modelling (RSM) comprised to evaluate the appropriation of such models. The comparison study between surrogate models and the exploration of indentation shapes have been provided. The obtained results show that the RNN method has the minimum mean squared error (MSE) in training points compared to the other methods. Meanwhile, optimization based on surrogate models with lower values of MSE does not provide optimum results. The RNN method demonstrates a lower crashworthiness performance (with a lower value of 125.7% for SEA and a higher value of 56.8% for PCF) in comparison to RSM with an error order of 10(-3). The SEA values can be increased by 17.6% and PCF values can be decreased by 24.63% by different types of indentation. In a specific geometry, higher SEA and lower PCF require triangular and circular shapes of indentation, respectively.