Finite Element (FE) analysis is widely employed in today’s Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) to model real-world structures in an early design stage. Vibro-acoustic performance can be assessed on the basis of numerical models, which reduces the need for expensive physical prototypes. An FE analysis yields a deterministic prediction of vibro-acoustic for a certain set of input parameters.
One can use optimization to update the input parameter settings to find the cheapest and lightest structure that meets all targets on performance, safety and customer demand. Scatter on input parameters limits the predictive capability of deterministic FE models in the mid-frequency range, as even small parameter changes may have substantial effects on the functional performance.
The robustness of a deterministic optimum should be assessed: input variations may propagate to produce scatter on functional performances, which may result in violation of design constraints. Two classes of input scatter are distinguished: uncertainty and variability, which are taken into account with possiblistic and probabilistic methods, respectively.
