Model Development and Validation of Offset Deformable Barrier under Impact Intruding Load

The offset deformable barrier (ODB), which is mainly composed of aluminum honeycombs, experiences a dynamic non-uniform loading during 40% offset crash test. For thin-walled honeycomb structure, tearing effect under non-uniform loading and air strengthening effect under dynamic loading are two important issues which greatly influence the deformation mode and force response of ODB and have not been well addressed in the current commercial finite element (FE) ODB models. This manuscript documents the development and validations of a new FE ODB model focusing on these two issues. Solid elements were used to simulate honeycomb structure with the consideration of computation efficiency. To capture the tearing effect of honeycombs in ODB, the solid elements were discretized and beam elements with failure criteria were added to connect the adjacent nodes. Air effect was incorporated into the model by with 12 airbags. To evaluate the performance of the newly developed ODB model, two sled tests, including offset plate impact and center pillar impact, were carried out. Simulation results revealed that this model can well characterize the tearing and localized deformation of ODB. For deceleration history and impact force, the correlation analysis showed that the correlation grade between simulation and test curves is “excellent” for offset plate impact and “good” for center pillar impact, demonstrating the reliability and accuracy of the current ODB model.