SIMULTANEOUS TOPOGRAPHY OPTIMIZATION OF A VEHICLE HULL AND TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION OF THE ASSEMBLY INTERFACE FOR BLAST MITIGATION

Structural optimization efforts for blast mitigation seek to counteract the damaging effects of an impulsive threat on critical components of vehicles and to protect the lives of the crew and occupants. The objective of this investigation is to develop a novel optimization tool that simultaneously accounts for both energy dissipating properties of a shaped hull and the assembly constraints of such a component to the vehicle system. The resulting hull design is shown to reduce the blast loading imparted on the vehicle structure. Component attachment locations are shown to influence the major deformation modes of the target and the final hull design.