Drop-weight impact testing for the study of energy absorption in automobile crash boxes made of composite material

Abstract

There is an ever-increasing demand in the automotive sector to continuously improve the performance and reduce cost through weight reduction in the structure of the vehicle. In the present scenario, it is also necessary to meet the standards set by crash safety regulating authorities in various parts of the world. In automobiles, the crash box is placed in the anterior region to absorb the impact energy in the event of an accident. Glass fiber reinforced plastic crash boxes have a high strength-to-weight ratio and also are good in energy absorption, particularly useful in this scenario. In this paper, the effectiveness of different triggers in combination with various geometries is investigated for Glass fiber reinforced plastic crash boxes using drop-weight impact testing. A trigger is a geometric irregularity introduced in the crash box design to alter the energy as well as force levels by modifying the deformation mode under loading. Comparison of change in force level, absorption of impact energy, specific energy absorption values was performed for composite crash boxes made of various types of cross-sectional geometries along with multiple patterns of triggers. Force versus displacement (F–D) curves are drawn for all the cases of the glass fiber reinforced plastic crash boxes to understand the behavior of each combination formed with various types of geometries and triggers, under impact loading. Strength-to-weight ratio was considered as the deciding factor for the comparisons to know the best and worst cases of the crash boxes made of different cross-sections along with various trigger types. This study provides detailed insights into the drop-weight impact testing procedure including the preparation of specimens, setting up the drop-weight impact test, preparation of specimen clamps, safety precautions involved, data acquisition from the test and its processing.

Optimal design of a novel crash box with functional gradient negative Poisson’s ratio structure

“…Results showed that when compared with the conventional crash box, the proposed optimal design leads to great improvement on account of not only the energy absorption per unit mass, but also the initial peak force. Through adopting drop-weight impact testing, Hussain et al 2 investigated the effectiveness of disparate triggers in combination with different geometries for glass fiber reinforced plastic crash boxes and the behavior of each combination composed of various types of geometries and triggers under impact loading is finally researched. Chen and Ma 3 carried out the numerical simulation of the crash box based on the consideration of the strain rate of the material and found that the crash box collapse more smoothly after adding double-sided grooves at the front crash box.…”

Comparative study on the successive impact behavior of composites in ship structures

“…The method of energy absorption allows monitoring the impact damage directly from the parameters acquired throughout the impact event [9][10][11][12][13]. However, it is critical to understand how the initial impact energy is introduced into the material.…”

Crashworthiness analysis of cylindrical tubes with coupling effects under quasi-static axial loading: An experimental and numerical study

“…The selected structures must fulfill the highest strength to weight ratio to be practical for impact applications. 1,2 Due to the practicality of cylindrical tubes in diverse industries, ranging from aerospace to automobile industry, 3,4 they have been an ongoing research topic for researchers. When it comes to choosing the suitable structure, although countless structures could be considered as an absorber, considering the structures possessing negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) behavior, so-called auxetics, 5 could be a suitable choice.…”