Plane sheet panels exhibit poor stiffness and NVH (noise, vibration, a
nd harshness) performance due to their flexibility. A common and cost-
effective approach in the automotive industry to improve the stiffness
and NVH peformance of sheet panels is the addition of beads. However,
no systematic methodology is available for determining the optimal pa
ttern of beads in sheet metal. This research explores the feasibility
of applying topology optimization methods to the bead design of sheet
panels. The approach starts with adding beam elements to the shell ele
ment model of the sheet panel to simulate the stiffness improvement of
the structure and then uses the topology optimization method to obtai
n the optimal layout of the beam elements. A cantilever plate is used
to perform a preliminary study for bead pattern design and a simplifie
d vehicle structure is used to demonstrate the applicability of the pr
oposed method.