An Application of Bi-Directional Evolutionary Structural Optimisation for Optimising Energy Absorbing Structures Using a Material Damage Model

Abstract:

The Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimisation (BESO) method is a numerical topology optimisation method developed for use in finite element analysis. This paper presents a particular application of the BESO method to optimise the energy absorbing capability of metallic structures. The optimisation objective is to evolve a structural geometry of minimum mass while ensuring that the kinetic energy of an impacting projectile is reduced to a level which prevents perforation. Individual elements in a finite element mesh are deleted when a prescribed damage criterion is exceeded. An energy absorbing structure subjected to projectile impact will fail once the level of damage results in a critical perforation size. It is therefore necessary to constrain an optimisation algorithm from producing such candidate solutions. An algorithm to detect perforation was implemented within a BESO framework which incorporated a ductile material damage model.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 553)
• Pages: 836-841
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.553.836
• Online since: May 2014
• Authors: Daniel Stojanov, Brian Falzon, Xin Hua Wu, Wen Yi Yan
• Keywords: Damage Modeling, Energy Absorption, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Projectile Damage, Structural Optimisation

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