Nowadays thin-walled components in CFRP composite materials are considered in order to progressively replace metals for crashworthy applications in the automotive industry, thanks to their undoubted advantages such as high strength to weight ratio. The present chapter is dealing with the lightweight design and the crashworthiness analysis of a composite nose cone as the Formula SAE racing car front impact attenuator. The analysis of the crash behaviour was conducted both numerically, using explicit FE codes as LS-DYNA and Radioss, and experimentally, by means of a drop weight test machine. In order to assess the quality of the simulation results, initially a complete comparative analysis with material characterization was developed on simple CFRP composite tubes subjected to dynamic axial impact loading. After quasi-static and dynamic experimental crash tests on the composite nose cone were performed. These experimental results are reported together with numerical simulation ones. The main idea of the research was to demonstrate energy absorbing capabilities of a thin-walled crash box during the frontal impact, with the lowest initial deceleration. In order to initialize the collapse in a stable way, the design of the composite impact attenuator has been completed with a trigger which consists of a very simple smoothing (progressive reduction) of the wall thickness. Initial requirements were set in accordance with the 2008 Formula SAE rules and they were satisfied with the final configuration.
Energy Absorbing Sacrificial Structures Made of Composite Materials for Vehicle Crash Design
BORIA, Simonetta;
2013-01-01
Abstract
Nowadays thin-walled components in CFRP composite materials are considered in order to progressively replace metals for crashworthy applications in the automotive industry, thanks to their undoubted advantages such as high strength to weight ratio. The present chapter is dealing with the lightweight design and the crashworthiness analysis of a composite nose cone as the Formula SAE racing car front impact attenuator. The analysis of the crash behaviour was conducted both numerically, using explicit FE codes as LS-DYNA and Radioss, and experimentally, by means of a drop weight test machine. In order to assess the quality of the simulation results, initially a complete comparative analysis with material characterization was developed on simple CFRP composite tubes subjected to dynamic axial impact loading. After quasi-static and dynamic experimental crash tests on the composite nose cone were performed. These experimental results are reported together with numerical simulation ones. The main idea of the research was to demonstrate energy absorbing capabilities of a thin-walled crash box during the frontal impact, with the lowest initial deceleration. In order to initialize the collapse in a stable way, the design of the composite impact attenuator has been completed with a trigger which consists of a very simple smoothing (progressive reduction) of the wall thickness. Initial requirements were set in accordance with the 2008 Formula SAE rules and they were satisfied with the final configuration.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
