Title: Optimal design of vehicle target pulse and restraint system

Authors: Rongrong Zhou, Yan Fu, Stephen Kang

Addresses: Ford Motor Company, MD 158, Product Development Center, 20901 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn, MI 48124, USA. ' Ford Motor Company, MD 2115SRL, Scientific Research Laboratory, 2101 Village Road, Dearborn, MI 48121, USA. ' Ford Motor Company, MD 158, Product Development Center, 20901 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn, MI 48124, USA

Abstract: This paper presents an occupant-first approach, which allows for the simultaneous consideration of vehicle structure and the design of the occupant restraint system in the early stages. There are many difficulties in solving this problem, such as the large number of design variables, the large number of constraints and the highly non-linear nature of the occupant|s responses. An efficient genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to deal with the challenges involved in the optimal design of the vehicle target pulse and the occupant restraint system. The methodology is demonstrated through a vehicle design problem. The results show that the occupant-first approach is effective and the GA is a valuable optimisation tool which can be used to achieve design targets.

Keywords: genetic algorithms; occupant protection; optimisation; restraint system; vehicle crash pulse; vehicle safety; occupant safety; car accidents; optimal design; vehicle structure; vehicle target pulse; vehicle design; vehicle crush.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVS.2005.007544

International Journal of Vehicle Safety, 2005 Vol.1 No.1/2/3, pp.168 - 180

Published online: 03 Aug 2005 *

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