Design and optimization for honeycomb-like structures with hybridizing hierarchy and gradient strategies

To address the conflict between load conditions and material utilization, natural materials have evolved unique structural strategies exhibiting high mechanical efficiency. Building on natural hierarchy and gradient strategies, the current study constructs hybrid hierarchical gradient honeycombs (HHGH), aiming to enhance crashworthiness. Subsequently, the impact of each strategy on the crashworthiness performance is thoroughly investigated. Ultimately, the configuration of the HHGH was optimized by RBF and NSGA-II. The results indicate that the hybridization of various enhancement strategies significantly improves the crashworthiness. Quantitatively, the SEA of the HHGH is 2.91 times that of the corresponding regular honeycomb, with similar PCF.