Design of a Conceptual Bumper Energy Absorber Coupling Pedestrian Safety and Low-Speed Impact Requirements

Abstract

The car front bumper system needs to meet the requirements of both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact which are somewhat contradicting. This study aims to design a new kind of modular self-adaptive energy absorber of the front bumper system which can balance the two performances. The X-shaped energy-absorbing structure was proposed which can enhance the energy absorption capacity during impact by changing its deformation mode based on the amount of external collision energy. Then, finite element simulations with a realistic vehicle bumper system are performed to demonstrate its crashworthiness in comparison with the traditional foam energy absorber, which presents a significant improvement of the two performances. Furthermore, the structural parameters of the X-shaped energy-absorbing structure including thickness (t u), side arc radius (R), and clamping boost beam thickness (t b) are analyzed using a full factorial method, and a multiobjective optimization is implemented regarding evaluation indexes of both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact. The optimal parameters are then verified, and the feasibility of the optimal results is confirmed. In conclusion, the new X-shaped energy absorber can meet both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact requirements well by altering the main deformation modes according to different impact energy levels.

The Mechanical Properties Requirement for Polymer Composite Automotive Parts - A Review

“…Researcher on car bodies has been conducted by many researchers. Some of them investigated the crash safety [28] and some of them investigated the material used for car body [29] and some of them both of crash safety and material used [30] or design of a conceptual bumper energy absorber coupling pedestrian safety and low speed impact requirement [31]. Others researcher study about natural fiber as reinforce of composite material for car body [32].…”

In-plane elastic property prediction of straight-arc coupled auxetic structures

“…Cellular materials with unique microstructures exhibit outstanding mechanical properties, such as light weight, good impact resistance, and high specific strength [1][2][3][4]. They can be potentially employed in the automotive, aerospace, and military fields, etc, especially for the design of energy-absorbing devices [5,6]. The honeycomb structure models are generally * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”

Experimental Investigation of Crush Energy Absorption and Strength Properties of Sandwich Plates With Aluminum Facesheet/ Expanded Polypropylene Foam Core

“…Expanded Polypropylene foams with closed-cellular structure are recyclable structures and have low density and low production cost, resistant to impact, superior energy absorption capacity. Due to these properties, it is widely used in the automotive industry as padding material in vehicle front bodies, front and rear bumper beams and side door panels (Güçlü, et al, 2020;Evans and Morgan, 1999;Mo, et al, 2018).…”