The Effect of Forming on Automotive Crash Results

The thickness changes and work hardening arising during the forming process are generally ignored in crash analysis. This paper quantifies the effect of the forming process on crash response of a typical car of stamped steel construction using an analytical study.

Forming results for fourteen panels of a medium-sized car were calculated using a one-step stamping analysis code. These were imported into the crash model, and crash results compared with and without the forming effects. The time taken to generate the forming data by a variety of methods is quantified, and the trade-off between the time taken and accuracy is examined. An efficient method of importing the forming data into the crash model is presented.