Design Optimization of Auto-body Members for Crashworthiness Enhancement with the Response Surface Method

The response surface method is the statistical method which can be applied to the non-sensitivity based optimization. The response surface which is constructed by the least square method contains only the polynomial terms so that the global maximum and minimum points are easily obtained. In this paper, this response surface method is utilized to optimize the crashworthiness of auto-body members. As the first step, the thickness of a simple circular tube is optimized to confirm the application of the response surface method to the crashworthiness. Optimization of the thickness on the front side member is, then, performed with the constructed response surface of the absorbed energy and deformation. Optimization results demonstrate that the absorbed energy and the deformation pattern of the front side member is improved in the viewpoint of enhancement of the crashworthiness.