Citation: Liu, W.; Wang, Y.; Wang, T.
Box Girder Optimization by
Orthogonal Experiment Design and
GA-BP Algorithm in the Gondola Car
Body. Processes 2022, 10, 74. https://
doi.org/10.3390/pr10010074
Academic Editor: Arkadiusz Gola
Received: 23 November 2021
Accepted: 27 December 2021
Published: 30 December 2021
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Article
Box Girder Optimization by Orthogonal Experiment Design
and GA-BP Algorithm in the Gondola Car Body
Wenfei Liu
1,
*, Yuming Wang
2
and Tianyou Wang
2
1
School of Intelligent Manufacture, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, China
2
Baotou Beifang Chuangye Co., Ltd., Baotou 014032, China; btbcwym@vip.sina.com (Y.W.);
15598352789@163.com (T.W.)
* Correspondence: liuwenfei45@163.com
Abstract:
Box girder is an important bearing and force transmitting component in the gondola car
body; the rationality of its structure directly affects the life of the whole car body. In order to solve
disadvantage of the traditional box girder optimization method, which mainly depends on design
experience, the combined method of orthogonal experimental design and the genetic algorithm-back
propagation (GA-BP) algorithm is used for the structural optimization of bolster beam in this paper.
Nine groups of parameters were established by orthogonal experiment, which can give typical
samples for GA-BP optimization. Then, the bolster beam is optimized by the GA-BP algorithm, and
the new gondola car body model is established with the optimized parameters. The finite element
analysis results show that the minimum stress is found by using the GA-BP algorithm, which is
basically consistent with the simulation results. Finally, the results show that the combined method
of orthogonal experimental design and GA-BP algorithm is feasible to the box girder optimization of
the gondola car body. Meanwhile, the optimization results of bolster beam will provide a reference
for the structural design of the heavy haul wagon body.
Keywords:
structure optimization; GA-BP; orthogonal experimental design; box girder; gondola
car body
1. Introduction
The box girder is generally welding or riveting from the outer plate and the internal
stiffened plate, which has good characteristics such as high strength, high rigidity, and
light weight. It is widely used in the fields of aerospace, aircraft, ship, railway vehicles,
automobiles, machine tools, etc. [
1
–
4
], especially in the field of bridges [
5
,
6
]. In recent
years, many scholars have widely studied the boxed girder structure design. The three-
dimensional spreading of the tendon force in flanged sections is researched, and a computer-
based tool is developed for plotting load paths in 3D bodies, from which the flow of forces
in the box girder anchorage zone can be clearly visualized [
7
]. The study [
8
] dealt with
the multi-scale optimization of composite structures by adopting a general global-local
modeling strategy to assess the structure responses at different scales. The study [
9
] used
the initial parameter method to analyze the distortion of simply supported box girders with
an inner diaphragm considering the shear deformation of the diaphragm. The ultimate
strength experiment was performed on different box girders, and the theoretical algorithm
of ultimate strength was improved by comparative analysis of the experimental results [
10
].
The progressive collapse behaviors and ultimate strength characteristics of ship hull box
girder models, made of high strength steel and ordinary strength steel, are studied by
experimental method [
11
]. Cui [
12
] optimized the welding sequence of the box girder by
the genetic algorithm, and its goal is to achieve reduced welding deformation.
With ten-year’s rapid development and innovation, China railway has achieved the
development of speed-up and heavy haul with Chinese characteristics. Whether it is the
Processes 2022, 10, 74. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10010074 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes