Citation

Chow CL, Jie M, Yaw Y. Int. J. Crashworthiness 2004; 9(1): 25-33.

Affiliation

Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Michigan-Dearborn; Visteon Automotive Systems

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1533/ijcr.2004.0269

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of design optimization of hexagonal ring-structures with particular emphasis on their impact energy management. The design optimization focuses on two principal design objectives, namely stability of force-displacement diagram (FDD) and large unit mass energy dissipation (UMED). The optimization is achieved using a two-step approach. The first step is to develop, based on an analytical method, a set of design-guidelines to determine preliminary geometry of an energy-absorbing device (EAD). The analytical method entails the derivation of governing equations used to satisfy the FDD of the structure geometry. The second step involves an optimization procedure that employs a computer simulation with the finite element method (FEM). The computer simulation helps finalize the EAD geometry that would satisfy both the FDD and UMED after an optimization process. A concept of stress criterion is developed and employed to efficiently achieve a stable FDD in the optimization process. For the illustration of the entire design process, three design examples are given for the design of metallic hexagonal structures.