Multiobjective optimization for tapered circular tubes

As more and more new functional requirements are placed, some novel development of sectional configurations of the structural members has been increasingly introduced. This paper presents the optimal design for tapered tubes of three different configurations, namely hollow single, foam-filled single and collinear double tubes. To represent complex crashworthiness objective functions, a surrogate model method, more specifically, response surface method (RSM), was adopted in this study. The design of experiments (DoEs) of the factorial design and Latin Hypercube Sampling techniques is employed to construct the response surface models of specific energy absorption (SEA) and the maximum impact load (MaxL), respectively. In this paper, the linearly weighted average, geometrical average and particle swarm optimization methods are utilized in the multiobjective optimization for these three different tapered tube cases, respectively. A comparison is made among the different tapered profiles with the different optimization algorithms, and the crashworthiness merits of foam-filled tapered tubes are identified. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.