Review on bumper beam

title author description

Crashworthiness design [1]
for functionally graded
foam-filled bumper
beam
They design and optimized a FGF-filled structure bumper beam and show the better energy absorbing and light
weightiness of the bumper beam using experimental and software (explicit finite element code LS-DYNA) compared
with traditionally hallow steel or aluminum extrusion bumper beam. During the impact, the hollow bumper beam
undergoes a bending collapse mode, which is typically localized in a small area and the other parts of the bumper
beam experiences almost a rigid body rotation. Ultra-light cellular metals such as aluminum foams have been
considered an ideal filler material in the thin-walled structures on account of their low density, high stiffness, good
impact resistance, high energy absorption capacity, and easy to manufacture. Foam filler changes the transverse
crashing mode and allows generating a higher load carrying capacity and much higher energy absorption efficiency
comparing with the empty counterpart. The shortcoming of uniform foam-filled structures is that the filled structures
may not make the best use of the materials and cannot exert their maximum capacities for crashworthiness. To
evaluate the crashworthiness of bumper beam structure, such quantitative criteria as energy absorption (EA), specific
energy absorption (SEA), peak crashing force (Fmax) and crash force efficiency (CFE) are commonly used. The
software analysis was done by using explicit finite element code at 3 point bending. The foam grading system is in the
axial/length direction symmetrically. The grading system is with density variation. Using the parameters of Density
gradient m, density range (qf1 and qf2), and wall thickness t have significant effects on EA, SEA, Fmax, and CFE.
Finally they show FGF filled bumper beam is better in energy absorption and good stiffness.
 Functionally graded
materials classifications
and development trends
from industrial point of
view

1. Xiao, Z., et al., Crashworthiness design for functionally graded foam-filled bumper beam. Advances in engineering software, 2015. 85: p. 81-95.