Design optimisation of a semi-solid tyre using response surface approximations

A general approach for the construction of global approximations to structu ral behaviour using response surface methodology is presented. The computat ion and use of these approximations are demonstrated using a semi-solid tyr e example. The use of these global approximations to the responses made it viable to utilise the capabilities of non-linear analysis software in desig n optimisation. The insight gained from a preliminary low fidelity model wa s utilized in a two-stage approach to achieve the maximum benefit from a mo re expensive high fidelity model. The resulting high-accuracy approximation s greatly reduced the cost of subsequent design calculations such as multid isciplinary and discrete optimisation.