Optimization Design of Automotive Body Stiffness Using a Boundary Hybrid Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

At the conceptual design stage, it is critical to use appropriate structural analysis and optimization methods. The thin-walled beam transfer matrix method (TBTMM) is adopted to establish the mathematical model of the simplified vehicle body-in-white (BIW) structure in this paper and compare it with the results of the finite element method (S-FEM) to verify the approach. In addition, on the basis of the boundary simulation genetic algorithm (BSGA) and local search procedure, a boundary hybrid genetic algorithm (BHGA) is proposed. BHGA is benchmarked on 20 test functions and is compared with current meta-heuristic algorithms to prove its effectiveness and universality. Finally, considering the bending and torsional stiffness constraints, BIW conceptual model is lightweight and designed with an optimizer.

Keywords

• thin-walled beam transfer matrix method
• BIW structure
• boundary hybrid genetic algorithm
• lightweight design