Optimization of a non-pneumatic tire using design of experiments and machine learning techniques

In this paper, the spoke structure of a non-pneumatic tire is optimized. The finite element model of the spoke structure is created and structural dynamic analysis is made using ABAQUS. The optimization goal is to simultaneously reduce three characteristics of the spoke structure, the mass, vertical displacement and acceleration. Simulations are performed according to the center composite design table, and the objective function is estimated using response surface analysis (RSA), random forest regression (RFR), gradient boosting regression (GBR) and artificial neural network (ANN). The genetic algorithm is used for minimization, and the optimization results of each objective function are analyzed through verification simulation. As a result of the optimization, the error between the predicted value and the actual value is 18.6% for RSA 3.1% for RFR, 1.7% for GBR, and 15.0% for the ANN. The ANN proposes the optimum design variables which derive output values smaller than the current minimum value because the ANN properly represents the nonlinear characteristics of the spoke model generated in this study.Highlights Simulation based optimization of the spoke structure of a non-pneumatic tireVarious regression models are used and their accuracy is comparedA two-step genetic algorithm is used for optimization