Bio-inspired cellular thin-walled structures under impact loading: Modeling and multi-stage cooperative optimization algorithm

Bio-inspired cellular structures provide excellent elements and design concepts for designing thin-walled energy-absorbing structures of vehicles, trains and aircrafts, due to their special structural characteristics and excellent mechanical properties. This study conducts a literature review of bio-inspired cellular energy-absorbing structures with a double-circular shape and multi-objective optimization problems of energy-absorbing structures. A multi-stage cooperative optimization algorithm, which combines the theories of multi-objective optimization and multi-criteria decision making, is proposed for solving the selection and optimization problems of bio-inspired cellular thin-walled structures. Multi-performance characterization analysis and evaluation of seven types of bio-inspired cellular structures under impact loading are carried out, including horsetail grass, bamboo, lotus leaf vein, beetle elytra, lotus root and shrimp dactyl club. Subsequently, comparative analysis and discussion are conducted to verify that this optimization method is feasible and practical. The results show that the optimized results obtained by this proposed algorithm are reliable, and the optimized bio-inspired cellular thin-walled energy-absorbing structure shows better overall characteristics in collisions.