Author(s)

L. Pagnotta

Abstract

Structural optimization of an automotive dashboard support by genetic algorithms L. Pagnotta Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Calabria, Italy. Abstract Noise and vibration phenomena may appear from a large number of sub-systems that a vehicle is built of and lead to a decline in passenger comfort. As a consequence, the optimum design of every structural detail with frequency constraints has become of great importance in the automotive field. In the present paper a genetic algorithm is described to find the optimal stiffening rib lay-out for the fundamental natural frequency optimization of a magnesium automotive dashboard support. The genetic algorithm, developed on a personal computer using the language MATLAB, applies the general-purpose finite element code MSC-NASTRAN to carry out the modal analysis. 1 Introduction It is well known that the response of a structure to dynamic excitation depends on the first natural frequencies of the structure. A large amount of vibration

Keywords