Crash Simulation of Bumpers

Two bumper beams were analyzed by ABAQUS (1) program using the automatic time increment scheme. Although sectional properties of the two beams and the initial impact condition are the same, the technique in selecting convergence tolerance is quite different due to the differences in configuration. With due consideration good convergence can be achieved in less than 100 time increments. In the process of development, economically this compares very favorably to the actual testing that leads to the final configuration of the bumper. Crash simulation study not only provides the evaluation of capability of the bumper but also serves to establish methods for comparing one bumper to another for initial development purpose.