Development of Parallelized RBDO Software System on

TARDEC High Performance Computing for Durability

Optimization of Vehicle Systems
Principal Investigator:
K.K. Choi, University of Iowa, kkchoi@engineering.uiowa.edu
Quad Members

Industry:
Dmitry Tanenko, Mike Honaker, General Dynamics Land Systems

Use of Reliability-Based Design Optimization (RBDO) by TARDEC is expected to

improve future Army ground designs by reducing weight, increasing the average life
of all parts subject to fatigue, and decreasing the total lifecycle cost. The results of
this project will be able to support Army’s Reliability-Centered maintenance (RCM)
and Condition-Based maintenance (CBM) by identifying locations where the sensors
should be mounted (i.e., durability hot spots) for effective data collection.

The main objective of this project is to continue the technology transfer to TARDEC
by developing and installing a parallelized software system that integrates the
University of Iowa developed DRAW code (durability analysis) and DSO code
(sensitivity analysis) codes on the TARDEC High Performance Computing (HPC)
platform.  Further, the DSO code will be integrated with HyperMesh Morpher to allow
TARDEC engineers to parameterize ground vehicle solid components very easily and
conveniently.  A unique feature of the proposed research is the integration of the
technical developments made in complementary projects "System Reliability-Based
Design Optimization with Associated Confidence Level Under Input Model and
Simulation Model Uncertainties" with DRAW and DSO to develop a simulation-based
design tool for system-level RBDO with the associated target confidence level to
improve and optimize the design of complex mechanical systems, such as ground
vehicles, for weight reduction, fatigue durability, and other optimization goals. 
These integrated software system is being parallelized and installed on the U.S. Army
TARDEC High Performance Computing (HPC) to demonstrate feasibility of practical
applications to large-scale ground vehicles.
Publications:

• Zhao, L., Choi, K.K., Lee, I., and Gorsich, D., “Sequential-Sampling-Based Kriging Method with Dynamic
Basis Selection,” 8th World Congress on Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, June 1-5, 2009,
Lisbon, Portugal.
• Zhao, L., Choi, K.K., Lee, I., and Du, L., “A Sequential Sampling Response Surface Method for Reliability-
Based Design Optimization”, Proceeding of ASME 2009.
• Noh, Y., Choi, K.K., and Du, L., “Reliability-based design optimization of problems with correlated input
variables using a Gaussian Copula,” Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2009,
pp. 1–16.
• Noh, Y., Choi, K.K., and Lee, I., “Reduction of Ordering Effect in Reliability-Based Design Optimization
Using Dimension Reduction Method,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 47, No. 4, 2009, pp. 994-1004.
 

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