Multi-objective reliability design optimization of a novel side door negative Poisson’s ratio impact beam:

By possessing a good capacity for energy absorption and a lightweight structure, the negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) structure has very fine prospects for application in vehicle engineering. By combining the traditional side door impact beam and a NPR structure, a novel side door NPR impact beam is first proposed in this work to improve the side impact crashworthiness in automobiles. The performance of the side door NPR impact beam is first studied in detail by comparison with a traditional side door impact beam and aluminum-foam-filled impact beam. To make further improvement on the performance of the side door NPR impact beam, the multi-objective design optimization while considering reliability is also investigated in this work. The parametric model of the NPR structure is established to improve modeling efficiency when the shape and topology are changed. A Latin hypercube sampling technique, orthogonal design, and a response surface model are then combined to construct the surrogate models. A radial-ba...