The present paper deals with the lightweight design and the crashworthiness analysis of a composite impact attenuator for a Formula SAE racing car, in order to pass homologation requirements. The analysed impact attenuator is manufactured by lamination of prepreg sheets in carbon fibres and epoxy matrix, particularly used for sporting applications, and has a very similar geometry to a square frusta, so as to obtain a progressive and controlled deformation. During the design, attention was focused on the material distribution and gradual smoothing, but also on the lamination process, which can heavily affect the energy absorption capability. To reduce the development and testing costs of a new safety design, computational crash simulations for early evaluation of safety behaviour under vehicle impact test were carried out. The dynamic analysis was therefore conducted both numerically, using an explicit finite element code such as LS-DYNA, and experimentally, by means of an appropriately instrumented drop weight test machine, in order to validate the model in terms of deceleration values during crushing. To assess the quality of the simulation results, a comparative analysis was initially developed on simple CFRP composite tubes subjected to dynamic axial loading. The numerical analysis was conducted using both shell and solid elements, in order to reproduce not only the brittleness of the composite structure but also the effective delamination phenomenon. Both the analyses show a good capacity to reproduce the crushing process; this is confirmed by the fact that model estimated displacements and accelerations are in close agreement with observed values for these variables. This confirms the quality of the methodology and approach used for the design of a racing car impact attenuator.

Experimental and numerical investigations of the impact behaviour of composite frontal crash structures / Boria, S.; Obradovic, Jovan; Belingardi, Giovanni. - In: COMPOSITES. PART B, ENGINEERING. - ISSN 1359-8368. - STAMPA. - 79:(2015), pp. 20-27. [10.1016/ j.compositesb.2015.04.016]

Experimental and numerical investigations of the impact behaviour of composite frontal crash structures

OBRADOVIC, JOVAN;BELINGARDI, Giovanni
2015

Abstract

The present paper deals with the lightweight design and the crashworthiness analysis of a composite impact attenuator for a Formula SAE racing car, in order to pass homologation requirements. The analysed impact attenuator is manufactured by lamination of prepreg sheets in carbon fibres and epoxy matrix, particularly used for sporting applications, and has a very similar geometry to a square frusta, so as to obtain a progressive and controlled deformation. During the design, attention was focused on the material distribution and gradual smoothing, but also on the lamination process, which can heavily affect the energy absorption capability. To reduce the development and testing costs of a new safety design, computational crash simulations for early evaluation of safety behaviour under vehicle impact test were carried out. The dynamic analysis was therefore conducted both numerically, using an explicit finite element code such as LS-DYNA, and experimentally, by means of an appropriately instrumented drop weight test machine, in order to validate the model in terms of deceleration values during crushing. To assess the quality of the simulation results, a comparative analysis was initially developed on simple CFRP composite tubes subjected to dynamic axial loading. The numerical analysis was conducted using both shell and solid elements, in order to reproduce not only the brittleness of the composite structure but also the effective delamination phenomenon. Both the analyses show a good capacity to reproduce the crushing process; this is confirmed by the fact that model estimated displacements and accelerations are in close agreement with observed values for these variables. This confirms the quality of the methodology and approach used for the design of a racing car impact attenuator.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Experimental and numerical investigations of the impact behaviour of composite frontal crash structures.pdf

non disponibili

Tipologia: 2a Post-print versione editoriale / Version of Record
Licenza: Non Pubblico - Accesso privato/ristretto
Dimensione 2.26 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
2.26 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2604969
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo