Multi-Objective Optimization of Material Layout for Body-In-White using Design of Experiments

Vehicle mass reduction is a major area of research in the automobile industry. Various techniques like reduced part break up, section reduction, material alternatives and load path design are widely being researched across the world. This paper presents a new technique of identifying materials for the components of minimal part break-up Body-In-White (BIW) in the conceptual phase using design of experiments and multi-objective optimization. Prime focus was on the methodology to effectively consider the materials for the parts without compromising the structural performance of the target components. BIW structural load cases like bending and torsion stiffness were considered to evaluate the structural performance. Material list is used as the design variable and then sampled using design of experiments to undertake multi-objective optimization. As a result, optimal material distribution and mass savings have been achieved for the BIW parts. The optimized design performance is closer to the baseline design. The proposed methodology may be widely adopted by engineers to optimally distribute the materials for the BIW components at various stages of the vehicle design.