Optimal Design of Energy Absorption Structures against Blast Resistance

Abstract

An optimization model of energy absorption structures composed of bi-material under impulse loads is established. The dissipated energy introduced by the cracks’ growing is chosen as the objective function. Distributions and the volume fraction of the bi-material are set to be the design variables and the constraints, respectively. A swapping material criterion (SMaC) and an improved genetic algorithm are proposed to optimize the distribution of the bi-material in the structural design domain and improve the ability of energy absorption of structures respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed two algorithms is verified by numerical examples, and some suggestions for the optimal design are provided in the conclusion of the paper.