Optimization of Structural Adhesives in BIW to Improve Full Vehicle Crash Performance

The crashworthiness of body-in-white (BIW) plays a vital role in full vehicle crash performance. The structural integrity of BIW is controlled via strength of the spot welds and adhesives that are the primary entities to join sheet metal. The number of welds and amount of adhesives in the entire BIW directly affects the cost and the cycle time of the BIW; which makes them a good candidate for optimization. However optimization of the welds and/or adhesives not only reduces the number of connections but also provides the opportunity to improve the structural performance and mass saving by placing them optimally for the structural responses.

This paper discusses the optimization of full vehicle structural performance for the small overlap crash event using the length of adhesives in the BIW as parameters. Included in the study were length of the adhesives and gage variables, defined in the front-end structure of the vehicle. A parametric model based design of experiments (DOE) study was performed using ANSA and iSight. The Metamodel based optimization process was used that involves an automated process of design generation and results extraction. The optimal design improved the crash deformation mode of the vehicle thereby improving the structural performance and reduced the amount of structural adhesives used.

This study highlights the process to optimize the performance of the vehicle in crash events with the length of the adhesives as a variable and also illustrates the opportunity to save mass in BIW while maintaining or improving the structural performance.