Unconstrained Shape Optimisation Of A Lightweight Side Door Reinforcing Crossbar For Passenger Vehicles Using A Comparative Evaluation Method

This paper presents an efficient and extensive exploratory search for lightweight side-door intrusion-bar assembly design concepts using the approach previously developed by the author. The study aimed to discover latent dependence or other relationships between the geometry based design input parameters and the performance objectives (strength and lightweight) to identify the best engineering concept designs. The utilisation of the adopted approach and the extended substructures in particular, allowed for more than 2.6 times more design alternatives to be explored in the same time frame, which significantly increased necessary confidence in the acquired discoveries since a priori hypothesis about factors or patterns of input parameters was absent. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were used to discover any potential and latent relationships, and the effects significance plots were utilised to deduce the best settings for each parameter and construct a generalised preferred shape.