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An advanced design methodology is developed for innovative composite structure concepts which can be used in the Army's future ground vehicle systems to protect vehicle and occupants against various explosives. The multi-level and multi-scenario blast simulation and design system integrates three major technologies: a newly developed landmine-soil-composite interaction model; an advanced design methodology, called Function-Oriented Material Design (FOMD); and a novel patent-pending composite material concept, called BTR (Biomimetic Tendon-Reinforced) material. Example results include numerical simulation of a BTR composite under a blast event. The developed blast simulation and design system will enable the prediction, design, and prototyping of blast-protective composite structures for a wide range of damage scenarios in various blast events.

Vehicle structure crashworthiness design is one of the most challenging problems in product development and it has been studied for decades. Challenges still remain, which include developing a reliable and systematic approach for general crashworthiness design problems, which can be used to design an optimum vehicle structure in terms of topology, shape, and size, and for both structural layout and material layout. In this paper, an advanced and systematic approach is presented, which is called Magic Cube (MQ) approach for crashworthiness design. The proposed MQ approach consists of three major dimensions: Decomposition, Design Methodology, and General Considerations. The Decomposition dimension is related to the major approaches developed for the crashworthiness design problem, which has three layers: Time (Process) Decomposition, Space Decomposition, and Scale Decomposition.

The shape and topology optimization method using a homogenization method is a powerful design tool because it can treat topological changes of a design domain. This method was originally developed in 1988 [1] and have been studied by many researchers. However, their scope of application in real vehicle design works has been limited where a design domain and boundary conditions are very complicated. The authors have developed a powerful optimization system by adopting a general purpose finite element analysis code. A method for treating vibration problems is also discussed. A new objective function corresponding to a multi-eigenvalue optimization problem is suggested. An improved optimization algorithm is then applied to solve the problem. Applications of the optimization system to design the body and the parts of a solar car are presented.