I- the response of a vehicle to a frontal crash

1. General assessment of the calculation.

1.1 Check Simulation’s Energy Balance
In order to validate the good behavior of the model, it is necessary to make an
overall energy balance of the vehicle’s energy. For this, we have plotted the
kinetic energy, the deformation energy and the total energy, in order to verify the
energy exchanges as a function of time during the different phases of the shock.
figure amal pg 86
The global energy graph for the simulation is plotted:
According to the energy balance, the curve of the global kinetic energy decreases
at the beginning of the computation and then increases during the spring back,
whereas the total internal energy is zero at the beginning of the shock with an
increasing pace in the first phase of the calculation and decreasing in the
springback stage.
So the energy balance of our model is consistent with the behavior described in the
validity criteria section.
To validate the good energy behaviour of the model, it is necessary not only to
check the energy exchanges, but also to ensure that the error of the energy at the
end of the shock verifies the following condition:
relation ebook pg 240
we have 3e+007+9e+007/1.2e+008=1%
so our model checks the energy validity condition.
1.2 Mass Balance
According to the validity criteria recommended by the customer, the total mass
addition must not show an increase of more than 5% over the entire calculation. In
order to verify the correct numerical performance of the model, two mass checks
must be carried out at the initial stage of the cycle and during the calculation.
The evolution of the mass during the calculation of our model is illustrated in
figure 61
Because too much mass increase changes the initial energy of the shock (higher
kinetic energy) which could lead to a change in the shock scenario especially if
the increase was concentrated in a particular area of the vehicle. It is then
necessary to check the addition of mass at time t=0.
At the moment t=0 we had an overall mass addition of 0%, so there was no
unacceptable mass increase.
The total mass addition during the calculation (mass addition to cycle 0 included)
must not exceed a value of 5%.
According to Figure 61 we have an initial mass mi = 1.1625 t and a final mass of m
f = 1.16283 t so the overall mass addition in the model is 0.028% so the model has
a good behavior regarding the mass addition.
1.3 the evolution of the time step
The elemental time step used in the computation must not show extended drops
outside that is allowed over a few cycles (<10) due to contact management in
Radioss.
The evolution of the time step of our model is presented in figure 63:
The evolution of the time step for the simulation of our model is acceptable since
there was no drop in the time step, except for a few cycles. Then as shown in the
figure the time step is stable around the time step control value of 0.4𝜇s.
2.Study of the behaviour of vehicle parts at frontal impact
In the frontal impact, the front part of the vehicle has the role of absorbing and
dissipating all or part of the energy generated by the impact, by deforming, in
order to cushion the impact and to avoid any deformation of the passenger
compartment. This role is essential to ensure passenger safety in the passenger
compartment. In this part we will study and check the correct behavior of the
structural parts of the front part of the vehicle.
2.1 Bumper subsystem behavior
The bumper subsystem (bumper beam + crush box) is mounted on the front the vehicle
to absorb impact energy and thereby prevent damage to the vehicle structure in the
event of the frontal impact. The bumper includes a bumper beam which is mounted to
the side rails of the vehicle frame through intervention of crash boxes(shock
absorber (1) and (2)). The bumper beam is provided to introduce energy, generated
in the event of a collision, into the crash boxes which convert the impact energy
into deformation work. The bumper structure is constructed in such a manner that
the crash boxes are situated in midsection on the side rails and the impact energy
is transferred via the bumper beam with smallest possible flexing into the crash
boxes and ultimately into the side rails.
In the event of a frontal impact, the front bag is loaded in compression, which
generated the total crushing of the left crash box (2) and the buckling of the
right crash box (1) in addition to a fold at the front beam.
2.2 Sub-frame behavior
As for the sub-frame,the impact caused the absorbing member to crush because of the
high intensity of the impact. Given the constraints of architecture and assembly,
the low track has a small section and a large length (Cf. figure 66), resulting in
its unstable behaviour in the event of impact.
At first, the absorbing member compressed, crashed and lodged, in compressed form
inside the plate. In a second stage, due to the high intensity of the impact, the
cross member in turn buckled strongly inward. fortunately, the bottom of the plate
is flat and extends transversely to a longitudinal direction of the low track
system, which ultimately constitutes a support and crushing wall, against which the
absorption element crashes.
2.3 Front rail
The structure of the front part of the vehicle body consists of two front rails,
each front rail having a front part (1) and a rear part (2), the front part being
deformable in case of frontal impact, and a rigid rear part with front support to
maintain the battery. Shock absorbers (3) “crash box” are inserted between the
front rails ends and the bumper beam to direct the impact forces towards the
vehicle structure (see Figure 68).
The deformation of the front rail during the impact is illustrated in figure 69:
During the frontal impact protocol, the left front rail, which has a longitudinal
elongated profile, deformed by successive bends under the effect of the compression
force generated by the impact, in a deformation mode called "bottling", and since
we have a high-speed shock, at the moment t = 1.5 10 5s the «Crash Box» can no
longer deform more, and therefore no longer absorbs the energy of the shock, then
the forces transmitted to the front part of the front rail increase until it causes
the deformation of the front part. In addition, efforts from the facade support
destabilized the front of the front rail and contributed to its collapse.
2.4 Front axle
At the end of compression of the absorbing member of the sub-frame and following
the force transmitted by the sub-frame towards the front axle, the left leaf spring
deforms longitudinally. Due to the fact that the leaf spring has a small
rectangular longitudinal section and a long length and due to its pre-deformed
shape of the middle, during the impact the left leaf spring did not crash but it
buckled around the pre-deformed zone while that of the right did not show any
significant deformation. This also results in a dislocation of the cradle-leaf
spring on both sides. The behaviour of the front axle is shown in Figure 70:
2.5 Structure behaviour
At the front of the structure we do not notice a great deformation at the cabin.
The structure has a fold at the plate of the left front wing and an opening between
the right front wing and the right cabin side while the cabin side reinforcements
and the front pillar gusset on both sides intended to stiffen the structure remain
undeformable.
in brief, the front part of the structure begins to endure deformations without
being saturated. Also, the force transmitted to the structure generated too much
deformation at the windscreen pillar (cf. figure 72).
2.6 Door behaviour.
The frontal impact did not generate any opening of the doors, nor did any of the
components of the doors dislodge during the impact, so the doors remained intact,
ensuring the safety of the passengers in the passenger compartment.
It also notes a good hold of the door pillar with a maximum normal force magnitude
of 4394.01 KN. Figure 73 shows the condition of the front left door (most stressed)
at the end of impact:
II- Conclusion
In this chapter, we have explained the steps followed and the concepts adopted for
the construction of the frontal model by detailing the steps of modelling,
interfacing and data setting of the model, We have also presented the study of the
behaviour of the vehicle structure during the frontal impact. In the next chapter
we will deal with the second part of the subject which consists in solving the
problem of deformation of the windscreen pillar.