Aluminum Rail Buckling: A Confidence Assessment of Different Modeling Techniques. Influence of Various CAE Procedures, Production Variability and Material Characteristics

This paper deals with one of the basic activities performed within this field, i.e. a re-evaluation of different widely-used modeling techniques to simulate front-ends, using quantitative criteria in order to assess their real ability to predict physical test results.

A set of dynamic tests were performed crushing aluminum rails. The same set was simulated using FEM

This study shows the influence on the results of FEM analysis of several parameter variations and modeling techniques compared to the results of experimental tests. Then it applies the assessment procedure to several cases to give an objective quantitative ranking to the modeling techniques.