A Two-Level Cross-Sectional Optimization Approach for Automotive Body Concept Design

Concept design is vital important in development of auto-body and it has great effects on later design work.In this paper,a twolevel cross-sectional optimization approach is presented to shorten concept design cycles.First,an exact structural analysis approach for spatial semi-rigid framed structures,i.e.,the transfer stiffness matrix method proposed in our previous study,is adopted for both static and dynamic analyses of body-in-white(BIW)structure.A two-level cross-sectional optimization approach is then proposed for an automotive BIW lightweight design,and genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization models.Afterward,an object-oriented MATLAB toolbox,using distributed parallel computing techniques,is developed to promote the concept design of the BIW structure.Finally,relevant numerical examples demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the proposed method.