Design optimization of vehicle crashworthiness based on new MDO method

The multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) methods can be used to solve the design problems of large-scale complex engineering system effectively. In order to deal well with the quasi-separable MDO problems usually encountered, a two-level alternating optimization method based on penalty function (PAO) method was introduced. PAO is based on decomposition and coordination strategy, that is, the quasi-separable MDO problem is decomposed into a system level problem and many sub-system level problems, and then the sub-system level problems are solved alternately to achieve the consistency among all sub-systems. PAO was first used to the design optimization of a vehicle crashworthiness problem. Results revealed that this method is effective.