A Magic Cube Approach for Crashworthiness and Blast Protection Designs of Structural and Material Systems.

Abstract

Crashworthiness design is one of the most challenging tasks in automotive product development, and blast protection design is crucial for military operations. The goal is to design an optimal crashworthy or blast-protective structure in terms of topology, shape, and size, for both structural and material layouts. Due to the difficulties in the crash analyses and the complexity of the design problems, previous studies were limited to component-level examinations, or considered only a simple design aspect. In this research, an advanced approach entitled the Magic Cube (MQ) approach is proposed, which for the first time, provides a systematic way to examine general crashworthiness and blast protection designs in terms of both structural and material aspects. The MQ developed in this research consists of three major dimensions: decomposition, design methodology, and general consideration. The decomposition dimension includes the major decomposition approaches developed for the crashworthiness design problems, and it can be applied to the blast protection design. It has three layers: time (process) decomposition, space decomposition, and scale decomposition. The design methodology dimension is related to the methodologies employed in the design process; three layers in this dimension are: target cascading, failure mode management, and the optimization technique. The general consideration dimension has three layers, which are multidisciplinary objectives, loadings, and uncertainties. All these layers are coupled with each other to form a 27-element magic cube. A complicated crashworthiness or blast protection design problem can be solved by employing the appropriate approaches in the MQ, which can be represented by the corresponding elements of the MQ. Examples are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach and its successful application in real vehicle crashworthiness, blast protection, and other related design problems. The MQ approach developed in this research can be readily applied to other similar design problems, such as those related to active safety and vehicle rollover.Ph.D.Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58392/1/cqi_1.pd