A method for selecting surrogate models in crashworthiness optimization

Surrogate model or response surface based design optimization has been widely adopted as a common process in automotive industry, as large-scale, high fidelity models are often required. However, most surrogate models are built by using a limited number of design points without considering data uncertainty. In addition, the selection of surrogate model in the literature is often arbitrary. This paper presents a Bayesian metric to complement root mean square error for selecting the best surrogate model among several candidates in a library under data uncertainty. A strategy for automatically selecting the best surrogate model and determining a reasonable sample size was proposed for design optimization of large-scale complex problems. Lastly, a vehicle example with full-frontal and offset-frontal impacts was presented to demonstrate the proposed methodology.