Experimental analysis and numerical optimization of a thermoplastic composite in crashworthiness

Abstract In this work, we present an experimental analysis and a numerical optimization study for the material parameter identification of impact attenuator made brand new All-PP thermoplastic composite subjected to axial load. After characterization material, Finite Element (FE) model is created simulated using LS-DYNA explicit software. Subsequently, in order capture force-displacement trend crush test, fine-tuning some relevant parameters through surrogate-based techniques performed. The process mainly consists (1) defining set target points on load-displacement curve where evaluate Mean Squared Error (MSE) between values; (2) Design Experiments technique provide sample which expensive deterministic simulations are performed; (3) constructing as many surrogate approximations number predict how load values change over parameters’ domain; (4) predicting overall MSE surface that optimized by means genetic algorithm sequential domain reduction iterative procedure. Results show good agreement energy curves, hence confirm valuable refine simulation structures.