Design and Simulation Analysis of an Integrated Honeycomb-filled Front Bumper for a Special Vehicle

In frontal collisions of automobiles, the bumper beam at the front of the vehicle plays a crucial role in absorbing energy and protecting the vehicle body during a collision. To enhance the collision resistance of a specific type of special vehicle with a non-load-bearing body structure, this paper focuses on this type of vehicle and conducts a study on the design and collision performance of an integrated vehicle front bumper-impact beam structure based on aluminum alloy additive manufacturing technology. A novel bumper structure is proposed, which integrates the front bumper and the front impact beam of the vehicle and is integrally formed using aluminum alloy additive manufacturing technology. This integrated structure is directly connected to the vehicle frame. Firstly, based on the appearance of the special vehicle body and the form of the front impact beam of traditional passenger vehicles, an integrated design of the vehicle front bumper-impact beam structure is carried out and connected to the vehicle body. Subsequently, based on the previous bumper design, a honeycomb structure is introduced internally, and the introduced honeycomb structure is integrally formed with the front bumper. Finally, finite element simulation analysis of two types of frontal bumper collisions under the same collision conditions is conducted. The results show that the initial integrated front bumper can achieve basic impact beam functions, while the front bumper with a honeycomb composite structure can improve the transmission path of collision force, ensure stable deformation, significantly enhance the energy absorbed during a collision, and increase the specific energy absorption, indicating that the integrated honeycomb-filled front bumper can effectively enhance the collision resistance of special vehicles.