National Conference On Advanced Techniques In

Mechanical Engineering
ISBN:961-28-21796

Bumper Beams is Absorbing the Bulk of Energy and Providing

Protection to the Rest of the Vehicle

1.K. RAJU 2.K NAGESHWAR RAO 3.T RAJA SANTHOSH 4 CH SAI KRUPA

1. St. Martins Engineering College, Dhulapally, kompally. Secunderabad

2. St. Martins Engineering College, Dhulapally, kompally. Secunderabad

3. St. Martins Engineering College, Dhulapally, kompally. Secunderabad

4. St. Martins Engineering College, Dhulapally, kompally. Secunderabad

ABSTRACT
In this paper, the analysis is done on the automotive bumper to check the crashworthiness for the passenger safety.
The bumper beam analyzed for the steel and composite material with the basic bumper design in the first phase to
compare the deformation and energy absorbed during the impact. A design of the automotive bumper must ensure the
safety of passenger mean while, it needs to have low weight. With the role of safety, fuel efficiency and emission gas
regulations are being more important in recent years that enforce the manufacturer to reduce the weight of passenger
cars. In this research, a front bumper beam made of steel and composite materials to provide more energy absorption
in the structural at the front of the bumper and is studied for impact modelling to determine the deformation and
energy-absorption behavior.

INRODUCTION commercial bumpers. A passenger car bumper is

Information about bumper beam
Bumper beams are one of the important
structures in passenger cars. For which we need to
have careful design and manufacturing in order to
ensure good impact behavior. The new bumper
design must be flexible enough to reduce the
passenger and occupant injury and stay intact in
low-speed impact besides being stiff enough to
dissipate the kinetic energy in high speed impact.
The bumper beam is the key structure for absorbing
the energy of collisions. Since, this is energy
absorbing structure suitable impact strength is the
main requirement for such a structure, this research
analyses the parameters that directly affects impact
characteristics and proposes easily achievable
modifications resulting from impact modeling on
modeled and tested for the impact. With the
introduction of automobile safety legislation,
crashworthiness and safety should be considered as
preconditions in light-weight design of bumper beam.
There were four main strategic parameters being
studied in the test modeling in the first step for
metallic material. Firstly, the material i.e., how the
type of material can affect the impact specifications
and what kind of materials can be used as replacement
in order to lower part weights. Steel and aluminum
structures with a specified thickness that did not fail
during the test depicted clearly that they are not
suitable as bumper beam structure due to increasing
weight. They increased the weight of the structure by
nearly 500% and 100% respectively, in comparison
with the composite bumper.
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Fig.1.1 Frontal bumper beam
Fig.1.2 Location of frontal beam
NEED OFINVESTIGATION
 Bumper beams plays an important role of
absorbing the bulk of energy and providing
protection to the rest of the vehicle.
 They also the backbone of the energy absorbing
systems located at both front and rear on
automobiles. Thus, it is important to determine
the most appropriate design concept and material
for the automotive bumper beam at the early
stage of product development process
 It is one of the main parts of the bumper system
that protects a vehicle from front and rear
collisions. Thus, it is important to design and
manufacture bumper beam which can contribute
to have good impact behavior.
 The sole purpose of this system is to provide
safety to the passengers. And thus it is necessary
to test these systems for reliability. It also serves
in protecting the vehicle parts such as engine
parts etc. at times of collision.
 These genuine parts are quite expensive. Thus
tests must be carried out to on the bumper
systems to assure that the tasks is carried out
effectively.
PROBLEMSTATEMENT
Nowadays, Weight reduction has been the main
focus of automobile manufacturers in the present
scenario. The bumper accounts for about 10-15% of
vehicle sprung weight. Thus it becomes a potential
unit for weight reduction. The weight reduction can
be achieved by choosing better materials and
optimized design etc. The replacement of steel with
optimally designed composite Automotive Bumper
can provide 93% weight reduction.
Moreover the composite Automotive Bumper
has lower stresses compared to steel Automotive
Bumper. All these will result in fuel saving which will
make countries energy independent because fuel
saved is fuel produced. The era of electrically driven
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cars requires a change of thinking. It will be essential
to reduce the weight of the vehicle.
The question, “Battery or Passenger?” would be
answered in a consumer-friendly manner, “Battery
and Passenger”. A significant amount of today’s
automotive composite applications are still parts
which support the structure or are parts of the car
body such as fenders, trunk lids, hoods. However
the new generation of electrically driven cars
require chassis and other load bearing structures
made from CFRP (Carbon Fibre Reinforced
Polymers). Epoxy carbon and glass composites
have proven their outstanding mechanical, thermo-
mechanical and fatigue resistance properties.
Objectives of investigation
To summarize, the objective of this research was to
develop and propose a replaced composite bumper,
which could satisfy following requirements:
a) Easy to manufacture by simplifying the shape.
This was accomplished by removing
strengthening ribs of bumper.
b) Being economical by utilizing low-cost
composite materials.
c) Achieving reduced weight compared to the
metallic bumpers.
d) Achieving improved or similar impact behavior
compared to the current metallic structure.
Impact mechanics It is important in the study of
impacts to distinguish between the two different
types of impacts that occur, elastic and plastic
impacts. In an elastic impact a negligible amount of
energy is lost between the two impacting bodies,
for example, the collision of two billiard balls. A
plastic impact involves a significant amount of
energy dissipated in the collision. An impact
between two vehicles or between one vehicle and a
rigid body, where the vehicles crumple on impact,
is an example of an elasto-plastic impact. The
impacting phenomenon between an impact or and
the front bumper in a low speed full crash could be
very complicated, since transient and nonlinear
analyses are involved. But, in designing the front
bumper, automobile manufacturers insist that the
bumper system should not have any material crash
or failure. Therefore, up to that point, the total
energy is conserved throughout the impact
duration. Since the impact or is assumed to be rigid
and the bumper beam was made of metallic and
composite material and shock absorber is a
relatively low stiffness material, the distribution of
the impact load is irregular along the contact area
and over the contact region of the bumper. The
bumper beam subjected to the impact load
undergoes a constant deformation. An important
consideration of momentum is that it can be neither
created nor destroyed. Thus, the momentum before
the impact is equal to the momentum after the
impact.
STATEMENT OF SCOPE
Design and experimental fatigue analysis of
composite Automotive Bumper using glass fibre
reinforced polymer are carried out using life data
analysis, in this particular literature. Compared to
steel bumper, the composite Automotive Bumper is
found to have 67.35 % lesser stress, 64.95 % higher
stiffness and 126.98 % higher natural frequency
than that of existing steel bumper. The
conventional Automotive Bumper weighs about
13.5kg whereas the E-glass/Epoxy Automotive
Bumper weighs only 4.3 kg. Thus the weight
reduction of 68.15 % is achieved. It is found that
the life of composite Automotive Bumper is much
higher than that of steel Automotive Bumper. The
3D FEM model of Automotive Bumper is simulated
using ANSYS. The objective of this research work
is to investigate the best suitable reinforced plastic
fiber for composite material in Automotive Bumper
application.
 To compare the load carrying capacity, stresses,
deflection and weight saving at same load
applied to composite Automotive Bumper with
that of EN45 steel Automotive Bumper.
 The focused on the implementation of composite
material by replacing steel in frontal crash beam
of a bumper to reduce weight, improving safety,
and durability.
 To design and analyzed composite bumper for
automobile, under static loading. and comparing
the result with the FEA results of steel bumper
 Find out the variation between composite
material and steel material Automotive Bumper,
after finite element analysis.
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 To find out the weight ratio of EN 45 steel and having more weight present cause. In this paper the
thermoplastic polyimide with 30% carbon fiber existing steel bumper is replaced with light weight
composite material Automotive Bumper. with suspension bumper will attached in my
project. In this work the design and analysis with
fabrication of standard composite material bumper
LITERATURE SURVEY made up of glass fiber reinforced polymer is carried
Review of papers out by which weight of the bumper can be reduced
in different cross section of this process. In this
ZhidaShen, XinQiao and Haishu Chen
project is constructing less weight impact
presented a paper introducing the research course
saturation suspension profiles are consumed [3].
of vehicle crash safety performance. A vehicle
Calienciug Gh.N. Radu presented a paper To
frontal crash FEA model is established according to
create a quality structure with low stress
CMVDR294. Vehicle frontal crash simulation
concentration we need to make improvements to
calculation is conducted by LSDYNA. Energy
that structure starts with the design, structure,
absorption area and transmission route of impact
quality of the materials and we will obtain a
force in frontal crash are introduced in details. Affects
mixture of the materials named composite materials
of longitudinal beams deformation on vehicle
with better properties and a new structure shape
crashworthiness are discussed deeply through
optimization. The present papers analyze the
simulation of the longitudinal beams design plan.
impact behavior of a composite car bumper made
Finally, tests are made to verify feasibility of the
from new materials. The study is performed using
longitudinal beams design plan and reliability of the
Solid works software for the design of the new car
vehicle frontal crash model. As result, references are
bumper made from new composite materials and
provided for vehicle longitudinal beams design and
the stress concentration distribution is evaluated by
improvement for the future [1].
use of finite element analyze with Abaqus software
Praveen Kumar.A, Sameer Belagali, and
for the impact cases [4].
Bhaskar presented paper in which the analysis is
A.R. MortazaviMoghaddam and M. T.
done on the automotive bumper to check the
Ahmadian The goal of this paper is to design a
crashworthiness for the passenger safety. The
bumper with minimum weight by employing the
bumper beam analyzed for the steel and composite
Glass Material Thermoplastic (GMT) materials.
material with the basic bumper design in the first
This bumper either absorbs the impact energy with
phase, and then front part is modeled with the
its deformation or transfers it perpendicular to the
honeycomb and foam type in the second phase to
impact direction. To reach this aim, a mechanism is
compare the deformation and energy absorbed
designed to convert about 80% of the kinetic
during the impact. A design of the automotive
impact energy to the spring potential energy and
bumper must ensure the safety of passenger mean
release it to the environment in the low impact
while, it needs to have low weight. With the role of
velocity according to American standard1. In
safety, fuel efficiency and emission gas regulations
addition, since the residual kinetic energy will be
are being more important in recent years that
damped with the infinitesimal elastic deformation of
enforce the manufacturer to reduce the weight of
the bumper elements, the passengers will not sense
passenger cars. In this research, a front bumper
any impact. It should be noted that in this paper,
beam made of steel and composite materials to
modeling, solving and result’s analysis are done in
provide more energy absorption in the structural
CATIA, LS-DYNA and ANSYS V8.0software [5].
form of honeycomb and foam type is assembled at
V.MohanSrikanth, K.VenkateswaraRao, and
the front of the bumper and is studied for impact
M.Sri Rama Murthy In this study, the most
modeling to determine the deformation and energy-
important variables like material, structures, shapes
absorption behavior [2].
and impact conditions are studied for analysis of
G.A.Umadevi and N.Ramesh presented a
the bumper beam in order to improve the crash
paper introducing The fuel efficiency and emission
worthiness during collision. The simulation of a
gas regulation of passenger cars are two important
bumper is characterized by impact modelling using
issues in these days. Bumper is the one of the part
Pro/Engineer, impact analysis is done by SOILD
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WORKS according to the speed that is 13.3 m/sec OUTCOME OF

(48 km/h) given in order to analyze the results. LITERATURESURVEY
This speed is according to regulations of Federal
The analysis is done by considering the
Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, FMVSS 208
previous experiments carried out by the researchers
Occupant Crash Protection whereby the purpose
in the field of selection of material in the
and scope of this standard specifies requirements to
automotive bumper impact analysis. Researchers
afford impact protection for passengers. In this
focused on the mechanical properties of a hybrid
research, analysis is done for speed according to
glass epoxy composite for utilization in a passenger
regulations and also by increasing speed is33.3
car bumper beam. A hybrid material, which is
m/sec (120 km/h). Simulation using Finite Element
fabricated by modified SMC method present a good
Analysis software, which is SOILD WORKS, was
mechanical properties cause by applied pressure to
conducted. The material used for bumper is
yield a strong bond between the hybrid-reinforced
CARBON FIBER-REINFORCED POLYETHER-
fibers. The design parameters for the bumper
IMIDE PEI and S2 Glass Epoxy [6].
production such as cross section, longitudinal
AyyappaSwamy GV, P Satish Reddy,
curvature, fixing method, rib thickness and the
MattaManoj and P.Bhaskar The intend of this
strength plays a significant role. The researchers
study was to investigate the structure and material
have studied on the study of impact behavior of
employed for car bumper in one of the car
vehicle to vehicle impact test and vehicle to barrier
manufacturer. In this study, the most important
test in order to determine whether vehicle-to-
variables like material, structures, shapes and
barrier tests can serve as surrogates for vehicle-to
impact conditions are studied for analysis of the
vehicle tests in accident reconstruction. The
bumper beam in order to improve the
researches have been done on the study to develop
crashworthiness during collision. The simulation of
a numerical analytical model of collinear low-speed
a bumper is characterized by impact modeling
bumper-to-bumper crashes, the model treats the car
using Pro/Engineer, impact analysis is done by
body as rigid structure and the bumper beam as a
COSMOS according to the speed that is 13.3 m
deformable structure attached to the vehicle. The
sec-1 (48 km h-1) given in order to analyze the
model is also used to compare that how the
results. This speed is according to regulations of
structural characteristics of the vehicles' bumpers
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, FMVSS
and the closing speed affect the crash pulse and to
208- Occupant Crash Protection whereby the
demonstrate a technique to estimate the maximum
purpose and scope of this standard specifies
severity of a low-speed crash that has already
requirements to afford impact protection for
occurred. The experiments were done on the
passengers [7].
engineering thermoplastics which are used with
S. Prabhakaran, K. Chinnarasu and M.
good results in applications such as knee bolsters,
Senthil Kumar In this paper the existing steel
structural instrument panels, head-impact-
bumper is replaced with composite bumper. In this
protection pillars, automotive bumpers, and body
work the design and fabrication of composite
panels, where structural integrity, crashworthiness,
bumper made up of glass fiber reinforced polymer
and energy absorption capacity are key
is carried out by which weight of the bumper can
requirements.
be reduced. Fabrication of composite bumper is
carried out by hand layup process by using E- EXPERIMENTALSETUP
Glass/ Epoxy bidirectional laminates. Composite
For complete analysis of the data it is essential
bumper misanalysed and Charpy impact tests are
to do experimental test of the fabricated composite
carried out. Compared to steel bumper, the
bumper. So that it can be proved that bumper can
composite bumper is found to have 64% higher
sustain the impact occurred during crash. Below
factor of safety and 80% less in cost. From the
figure sows the experimental setup on which
fabrication it was found that the weight reduction
amount of energy absorbed by a material during
of 53.8% is achieved using Composite material
fracture is tested. The setup is known as Charpy
without sacrificing the strength [8].
Impact Test machine
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Fig. Experimental setup
The charpy impact test, also known as the
charpy v-notch test, is a standardized high strain
rate test which determines the amount of energy
absorbed by a material during fracture. This
absorbed energy is a measure of a given material’s
toughness and acts as a tool to study temperature-
dependent brittle-ductile transition. It is widely
applied in industry, it is easy to prepare and
conduct and result can be obtained quickly and
cheaply. But major disadvantage is that all results
are only comparative. Charpy test specimens
normally measure 55*10*6mm and have a notch
machined across one of the larger faces. The notch
dimensions are v-shaped notch, 2mm deep, with
450 angle and 0.25mm radius along the base.
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EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
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Calculations I2 = 0.078 x 0.0023/12

= 5.2 x 10-11 m4
Analytical calculations design of composite
I3= 0.058 xo.0023/12
frontal
= 3.86 x 10-11 m4
Bumper I = I1+ I2 +I3
Basic information = 1.2932x10-10 m4 Tensile strength of the steel
= 460 x 106 N/m2 (from PSG data book)
In this initially we are considering 3 sections of
The moment equation, M = 59.4872 Nm.
steel bumper. We derived 3 moment of inertia for
those sections as I1 I2I3. Thickness of the composite bumper
Assumptions Thickness of the composite bumper can be
determined by the formula, There are three
1. Sections are considered to be rectangular
individual sections, so to find them individually by
2. The moment for steel and composite bumper is
using above formula,
assumed to became.
d1 = 3.543*10-3m
Analytical calculation for calculating moment d2= 3.055*10-3m
of inertia d3= 3.543*10-3m
Average thickness (d) = d1+d2+d3/3 = 3.38mm
For designing the composite bumper an already
A layer of E-glass mat thickness is 0.2mm, so 17
existing ambassador steel bumper issued as mound.
layers are required for fabricating composite bumper.
Dimensions are assumed as same as that of steel
Force Acting On the Bumper (F)
bumper for fabrication. Dimensions And Properties of
Force (F) = m*a
Existing Steel Bumper
Where, m = mass of the vehicle crashed on the
Effective length = 0.975m Total length = 2.055m
bumper (1554kg)
Thickness = 0.002m Effective breath = 0.078m
a = acceleration due to gravity (m /sec2)
Total breath = 0.172m
a = (u -v) / t
Weight = 5.16kg
Where,
Material = mild steel (chromium coated)
v = Final velocity after collapsing (m/sec)
Tensile strength = 460MPa (design data book)
u = Initial velocity before collapsing (m/sec)
Density = 7800 kg/m3
u = 8km/hr = 2.22 m/s (taken from NHTSA)
The moment for steel and composite bumper is
t = time taken for collapsing (sec)
assumed to be same.
a= (2.22-0) / 0.1= 22.22 m/sec2
Therefore the moment for steel is
Force (F) = 1554 x 22.222
Where, M = Bending moment (Nm)
= 34529.88 N
I= Moment of inertia (m4)
3.5 MODEL DIMENSIONS OF THEBUMPER
σ = Tensile strength (N/m2) y = d/2,
The load applied on the bumper is not a point load; it
d = thickness of the bumper (m)
is a uniformly distributed load (Pressure load). So
b = breadth of bumper
calculation pressure load is given below.
(m) Moment of inertia for rectangular section:
Pressure (P) = F/A
I = bd3/12
F = force acting on the bumper = 34529.88 N
There are three sections in the bumper I1, I2, I3
A = front area cross section = 2055 x 78 = 160290
respectively.
mm2
I1 = 0.058 x 0.0023/12
P = 34529.88 /160290 = 0.13 N/mm2
= 3.86 x 10-11 m4
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Results and Discussions on Engine Performance

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CONCLUSION composite bumper is 159.36 N/mm2 where steel

is 292.669 N/mm2.
 Design of steel and composite bumper (using
 Factor of safety for composite bumper is
glass fiber material) are completed and also
increased by 64%. From the study, it is
composite bumper is analyzed and compared
concluded that fiber reinforced plastic material is
with steel bumper.
a suitable material for manufacturing the
 Based on FEA and Analytical Calculation it was
bumper.
found that Maximum stress induced in the
 The result can be easily viewed in below shown
table.

Table 7.1 Comparison of present steel bumper and composite bumper FEA result
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2012 World Automotive Congress, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 197, DOI: 2013, 10.1007/978-3-
642-33805-2_2, _ Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
[2]. Praveen Kumar.A, Sameer Belagali, and Bhaskar-Comparative Study of Automotive Bumper with Different
Materials for Passenger and Pedestrian Safety –IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-
JMCE) e-ISSN: 2278-1684,p-ISSN: 2320-334X, 11(4), 2014, 60-64
[3]. G.A.Umadevi and N.Ramesh-Design and Analysis of an Automobile Bumper- International Journal of
Research (IJR)e-ISSN: 2348-6848, p- ISSN: 2348-795X 2(3), 2015.
[4]. CalienciugGh.N. Radu-Design and fea crash simulation for composite car bumper-Bulletin of the
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[5]. A.R. MortazaviMoghaddam and M. T. Ahmadian-Design and Analysis of an Automobile Bumper with the
Capacity of Energy Release Using GMT Materials-World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
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[6]. V.MohanSrikanth, K.VenkateswaraRao, and M.Sri Rama Murthy-Impact Analysis of a Car Bumper For
Various Speeds Using-IJRMET 4(1), 2014.
[7]. AyyappaSwamy GV, P Satish Reddy, MattaManoj and P.Bhaskar-Impact Analysis of A Car Bumper Using
Carbon Fiber Reinforced PEI S2 Glass/Epoxy Materials By Solid Works Software-International Journal of
Science Engineering and Advance Technology, IJSEAT ISSN2321-6905, 2014.
[8]. S. Prabhakaran, K. Chinnarasu and M. Senthil Kumar-Design and Fabrication of Composite Bumper for
Light Passenger Vehicles-International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER) 2(4), 2012.