Application of Finite Element Analysis of Structural Crashworthiness for Body Design Stage

It has become possible to calculate impact phenomena of comlex body structures by utilzing of a supercomputer and recent progress of computational mechanics including the Finite Element Method (FEM). However there are some problems to rely heavily on these methods for the analysis of crashworthiness from the view of time and cost in modeling or in calculation.

It is important to develop each specific say of calculation for corresponding to various crashworthiness in early design stages.

This papaer describes some FEM analyses for the various crashworthiness in statics and/or dynamics, regarding the body structure as resultant of components such as a side frame and subassembly such as a frontal structure. As a result, it is important to select optimum methods from FEM analysis for static and/or dynamic crash. It is also discussed that the difference between static and dynamic calculations is observed in deformation mode of body structure in collision.