Title: Innovative thickness variation strategies for enhancing crashworthiness and lightweight of multi-cell structures

Authors: Hengli Yu; Tong Pang; Tangying Liu

Addresses: School of Electromechanical and Automotive Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, China ' College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Hunan, 410082, China ' School of Electromechanical and Automotive Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, China

Abstract: Enhancing the crashworthiness and achieving lightweight design of thin-walled structures has become a prevalent research focus nowadays. Traditional approaches to design these structures mainly rely on fixed section and uniform thickness configurations, neglecting the impact of material distribution on the structural energy absorption performance. To provide some beneficial ideas for the material distribution design of energy absorbing structures, a topology optimisation method is adopted to optimise the material distribution of multi-cell structures and then a series of new energy absorbing topological structures are developed in this study. The optimised structures exhibit a rationalised material allocation with high energy absorption capacity. Importantly, this research proposes an effective, straightforward and implementable method for variable thickness design in multi-cell structures.

Keywords: multi-cell structures; material distribution; topology design; variable thickness method; crashworthiness; lightweight design; energy absorption.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2024.144097

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2024 Vol.18 No.4, pp.289 - 307

Received: 04 Jul 2024
Accepted: 17 Sep 2024
Published online: 27 Jan 2025 *

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