Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Rais-Rohani, Masoud

Committee Member

Marin, Esteban

Committee Member

Horstemeyer, F. Mark

Date of Degree

8-6-2011

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Aerospace Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

This study uses numerical design optimization with advanced metamodeling techniques to investigate the effects of material substitution and dummy models on crashworthiness characteristics of automotive structures. A full-scale Dodge Neon LS-DYNA finite element model is used in all structural analysis and optimization calculations. Optimization is performed using vehicle-based responses for multiple crash scenarios and occupant-based responses for one crash scenario. An AZ31 magnesium alloy is substituted for the baseline steel in twenty-two vehicle parts. Five base metamodels and an Optimized Ensemble metamodel are used to develop global surrogate models of crash-induced responses. Magnesium alloy is found to maintain or improve vehicle crashworthiness with an approximate 50% reduction in selected part mass using vehicle-based responses while dummy-based designs show less percentage decrease in weight. Vehicle-based responses selected to approximate dummy injury metrics do not show the same relative change compared to dummy-based responses.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/15451

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