Crashworthiness assessment of front side members in an auto-body considering the fabrication histories

Abstract

This paper is concerned with crash analysis of a front side member in an auto-body considering the effect of fabrication. The front side member is fabricated with sheet metal forming processes that induce forming histories such as plastic work hardening and non-uniform thickness distribution. Numerical simulation is carried out with LS-DYNA3D in order to identify the forming effect on the crashworthiness. The result shows that the crash analysis of the front side member with considering the forming history leads to a different result from that without considering the forming effect. The analysis calculated the crash mode, the reaction force and the energy absorption for crashworthiness assessment with the forming effect. The analysis results demonstrate that the design of auto-body members should be carried out considering the forming history for accurate assessment of crashworthiness. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.