This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Design & Analysis of Composite Impact Structures for Formula One Using Explicit FEA Techniques
Technical Paper
2002-01-3326
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
Racecar safety has received an increased amount of attention in the motorsports industry. Along these lines, the use of composites in racecars has improved structural stiffness and crashworthiness, while reducing weight. Besides having high stiffness and low weight, composites are recognized to be very good materials for absorbing impact energy. However, the use of aerospace grade carbon fiber composites in passenger vehicles faces the issues of high cost and long manufacturing cycle times. The design cycle for developing composite impact structures has traditionally been based on experiments with guidance from some simplified empirical models. Recently, a new composite material model has been developed by Mechalog in the Radioss™ crash analysis code. This model takes into account the orthotropic material properties of the composite as well as the failure strains. To model the crushing mechanism, the code determines the stresses within each ply in an element, and deletes those that have reached their ultimate strength as determined by the Tsai-Wu failure criteria. This model has been applied to various composite tube structures of differing cross sections as well as materials. The results show that the mean crush force can be predicted within 15% of the experimental results. In addition, the model has been successfully used to predict the impact energy absorption of a nose cone structure and for evaluating chassis impact integrity for Jaguar Racing Formula One.
Recommended Content
Technical Paper | Crashworthiness of Composite Materials & Structures for Vehicle Applications |
Technical Paper | Strength Behavior of Metal-To-Metal and Metal-To-Composite Joints |
Technical Paper | Finite Element Study of a Composite Tube Under Impact Load |
Topic
Citation
Caliskan, A., "Design & Analysis of Composite Impact Structures for Formula One Using Explicit FEA Techniques," SAE Technical Paper 2002-01-3326, 2002, https://doi.org/10.4271/2002-01-3326.Also In
References
- Lavoie, J.A. Morton, J Jackson, K. “An Evaluation of the Energy Absorption of Laminated Composite Plates” Proc. of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part G Journal of Aerospace Engineering 209 1995 185 194
- Jones, L.E. Cardon, H.D. “Composite Aircraft Crash Testing” Aerospace Engineering 15 12 Dec 1995 15 19
- Farley, G.L. “Energy Absorption in Composite Materials” Journal of Composite Materials 17 1983 267 279
- Hull, D. “Energy Absorption of Composite Structures” Science & Technology Review University of Wales UK 3 1988 22 30
- Caliskan, A.G. Chadwick, M.M. Han, X. Favro, L.D. “Static & Dynamic Crush of Composite Tubes” ASME Mechanics & Materials Conference, Session on Recent Developments in the Study of Impact of Composite Materials Blacksburg, VA June 28-30 1999
- Caliskan, A.G. “Crashworthiness of Composite Materials & Structures for Vehicle Applications” 2000 SAE Motorsports Conference & Exposition Dearborn, MI Nov. 2000 2000-01-3536
- Radioss Crash Input Manual, V.4.1 Mechalog Corp 9 1998
- Radioss Theory Manual, v. 4.2 Mechalog Corp 9 2001
- Bitzer, T. Honeycomb Technology Chapman-Hall Pub 1997