Finite Element Analysis of a Radio Mounting Clip Under Rear Crash Loading Environment

Finite element analysis (FEA) plays an important role in assessing the crashworthiness of support structures for electronic components in an automobile. In the event of a crash, the safety of front seated passengers may be compromised by components mounted in the interior panel. In this paper, a radio mounting clip design is evaluated under rear crash load at 50 kmph velocity using FEA. A simplified approach to analyze crash situations of component mountings inside an automobile is outlined. A full-section collapse nonlinear elastic-plastic analysis is performed to estimate force to failure. Various design alternatives for the clip to meet a required rear crash load are discussed. The FEA results are compared with experiments and analytical calculations, and fairly good correlation is observed.