Finite element simulation of the crashworthiness test of non-uniform thickness blank
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Date
2017-06
Authors
Lim, Chen Wee
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Abstract
Lightweight and safety of the passenger are the most common issues highlighted in manufacturing of a car. The car body denoted majority of the car weight and at the same time must strong and protect passenger from a crash. Front impact is the most serious impact in the world and after that is side impact. However, the space required for the car structure to absorb the energy from side impact is very less when compare to the frontal impact. Therefore, the passenger in the side impact accident often has the more serious worth when compare to the front impact. Hence, in this project, B-pillar is used as a case study to study the effect of reducing thickness to the safety of the passenger using simulation. Non-uniform thickness such as Tailor-rolled blanks (TRB) is important in manufacturing the B-pillar to achieve the lightweight and improve crashworthiness of the B-pillar. Lateral bending and axial crash simulation of B-pillar were conducted and the deformation was recorded. The effects of thickness distribution and the position of transition zone on the crashworthiness of B-pillar were explored and the results showed that how they influenced the crashworthiness. Therefore, the optimum thickness design of the B-pillar that is lighter and safe to the passenger is determined and is expected to provide some primary data for lightweight and crashworthiness design of TRB structure.