Optimizing crash box design to meet injury criteria: a protocol for accurate simulation and material selection

Research output: Indexed journal article Articlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The design of a deformation element or crash box that meets a given injury criterion based on deceleration requires careful consideration of physical properties and space requirements. Variations in material yield stress or geometry can result in statistical variations in the injury criterion output. Optimizing the crash box to fulfil two different injury criteria and two different energy levels may require more space than initially specified. In this study, we propose a protocol where the crash box is collapsed, and force–displacement is fitted to an equation. This fit is carried out with just two simulations and compared to 30 possible scenarios, obtaining a maximum error of 38.9%. With this initial fit, the appropriate thickness and yield stress can be chosen to perform crashes with two energy levels and monitor four injury values. With the ideal yield stress and sheet metal thickness, we introduce real statistical distributions using Monte Carlo design to perform 200 simulations and obtain 400 injury values for each design proposal. This technique ensures that the design will meet injury requirements for any possible combination of thickness and yield stress accepted by quality inspection. If only one simulation is performed, all designs meet the requirements, but only the last proposed design decreased the average injury to 9.2 g with a standard deviation of 2.68 g and a maximum value of 14.4 g, which is less than the required 15 g. This technique minimizes the risk of finding combinations of yield stress and thickness that produce an undesirable injury criterion.

Original languageEnglish
Article number156
Number of pages17
JournalStructural and Multidisciplinary Optimization
Volume67
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2024

Keywords

  • a3ms
  • Crash
  • FEM
  • HIC
  • Monte Carlo

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Optimizing crash box design to meet injury criteria: a protocol for accurate simulation and material selection'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this