Vehicle Occupant Restraint System Design Under Uncertainty by Using Multi-Objective Robust Design Optimization

This research reports a vehicle occupant restraint system design that takes account of uncertainties of crash conditions and situations by using a multi-objective robust design optimization method called MORDO. The vehicle occupant restraint system is composed of restraint equipment, such as an airbag, a seatbelt and a knee bolster. The optimization aims to improve the safety performance of the system and its robustness simultaneously. The safety of the system is evaluated by some indexes based on some safety regulations, which are calculated by response surface model of an occupant at a crash. In addition, its robustness is evaluated by the mean value and the standard deviation of objective functions, which are calculated by using Monte Carlo simulation based on a certain probabilistic distribution in space of design variables around each design candidate. Some helpful information for designing the restraint systems, such as trade-off information of safety performance and its robustness, are provided by visualizing and analysing the Pareto optimal solutions.