Crashworthiness design of multi-corner thin-walled columns

This paper presents a crashworthiness design of regular multi-corner thin-walled columns with different types of cross-sections and different profiles, including straight octagonal columns and curved hexagonal columns. In this paper, the straight octagonal section columns are first optimized, which mainly take axial crash loads during crashes. Next, the curved hexagonal section columns are optimized following the same approach, which are subject to bending moment when impact occurs. During the design optimizations, specific energy absorption (SEA) is set as the design objective, side length of the cross-sections and wall thickness are selected as design variables, and maximum crushing force (P,) is set as the design constraint. Both the objective and constraint are formulated using the response surface method (RSM) based on sets of finite element (FE) results obtained from FE analyses (FEA). After obtaining the optimal designs, parametric studies are performed to investigate the influences of the design variables on the crash performance of such multi-corner thin-walled columns. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.