Hat-type rectangular tube is a common structural member of an auto body, usually a front side member.
The front side member is an important part in absorbing the crash energy of frontal car crash. In frontal car crash the
front side member should absorb the crash energy as much as possible to minimize the deformation of the passenger
room. The front side member usually has a so-called hat shaped cross-section which is known to show better energy
absorption efficiency than the square tube with same cross sectional area. Crashworthiness of the front side member
is studied with hat-type specimens that are idealized shape of the front side member. In this research, asymmetric
hat-type specimens were studied. Static and dynamic crush tests were performed with five types of asymmetric hattype
specimen. The collapse modes show very arbitrary collapse profile even if the final energy absorptions are not
so much dispersed. In this paper, finite element analysis of asymmetric hat-type specimen was performed with the
small error of loading condition, describing errors in specimen specification, loading angle and experimental process.
Slight error in the loading angle was considered in the finite element analysis of asymmetric hat-type specimen. The
result of finite element analysis shows arbitrary collapse mode also. And this result is suggestive in estimating the
efficiency of crash energy absorption during the car crash.