Topological optimization of ballistic protective structures through genetic algorithms in a vulnerability-driven environment

Reducing the vulnerability of a platform, i.e., the risk of being affected by hostile objects, is of paramount importance in the design process of vehicles, especially aircraft. A simple and effective way to decrease vulnerability is to introduce protective structures to intercept and possibly stop threats. However, this type of solution can lead to a significant increase in weight, affecting the performance of the aircraft. For this reason, it is crucial to study possible solutions that allow reducing the vulnerability of the aircraft while containing the increase in structural weight. One possible strategy is to optimize the topology of protective solutions to find the optimal balance between vulnerability and the weight of the added structures. Among the many optimization techniques available in the literature for this purpose, multi-objective genetic algorithms stand out as promising tools. In this context, this work proposes the use of a in-house software for vulnerability calculation to guide the process of topology optimization through multi-objective genetic algorithms, aiming to simultaneously minimize the weight of protective structures and vulnerability. In addition to the use of the in-house software, which itself represents a novelty in the field of topology optimization of structures, the method incorporates a custom mutation function within the genetic algorithm, specifically developed using a graph-based approach to ensure the continuity of the generated structures. The tool developed for this work is capable of generating protections with optimized layouts considering two different types of impacting objects, namely bullets and fragments from detonating objects. The software outputs a set of non-dominated solutions describing different topologies that the user can choose from.