Design of Aluminum Space Frame for Crashworthiness Improvement

Aluminum for an automotive has greater potential benefits than steel, from the viewpoint of conservation of natural resources and the market for recycling. Aluminum has a good energy absorption property as well as has contributed to weight-reduction and recycling. These advantages have been utilized on electric vehicles that consist of aluminum space frames and other aluminum components. From the viewpoint of the crashworthiness, the side members of an aluminum space frame play an important role in frontal crash. Occupant analyses are accomplished for the aluminum space frame vehicle and the results are verified by comparison with real experiment. The experiment is a barrier test that is carried out by frontal impact. With the model validated by test results, modifications have been made to improve the crashworthiness and to minimize the injury of passenger by modifying the side members of die aluminum space frame. An analytic method was applied to reducing HIC (Head Injury Criterion) value. The results of experiment and simulation show that the aluminum space frame can provide good crashworthiness in a frontal crash.