Implementation of a correlation technique for fuel tank sled crash test

The fuel tanks produced in sheet metal forming needs to attend safety requirements regarding the vehicle collision. One of the validation tests is the sled crash test. This test is based on the impact of a sled with a certain profile and energy (defined by rules) against a fuel tank. During the crash are evaluated: deformation, internal pressure, cracks, leaks and the energy absorbed. To avoid trial-and-error methods in the product development stage, the use of numerical simulation has increased in the past years and made the validation process faster and cheaper. One difficulty of this procedure for validation of numerical results is the correlation between the level and the deformation mode of the tank, once the internal pressure and the energy can be measured by special sensors. The main objective of this work was to propose a methodology to correlate the deformed geometry of the fuel tank, using a 3D scanner, with the numerical simulation results. The software used to simulate the crash was Radioss, which has a suitable formulation for events involving large non-linearity. The results are promising and the methodology implemented can be used for other products that involves crash test in the validation, such as bumpers and doors.