Effects of Chassis Geometry on Structural Crashworthiness of a Pickup Truck in Full-Frontal Impacts

Semih Dagdeviren, Mecit Yavuz, Volkan Esat

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Automobile chassis is a major element of structural crashworthiness in road motor vehicles. Various chassis geometry and topology research studies have been conducted to improve crash energy absorption characteristics of the chassis. This study aims to contribute to the investigations on the effects of chassis geometry over crashworthiness, particularly focusing on the structure of a ladder frame chassis subjected to full-frontal collisions. Preliminary work has been conducted to evaluate the behaviour of steel beam profiles under impact loading through finite element (FE) modelling, which helps understand the mechanics of the particular beams chosen as chassis elements. Another finite element (FE) model is developed utilising a previously generated mesh of a pickup truck. The FE model is employed to simulate full-frontal crash test scenarios on the isolated chassis as well as on the whole body of the vehicle. Crash energy absorption results and reaction forces are collected for different thicknesses and beam profile cross sections of the vehicle chassis. Computational results exhibit good agreement with experimental findings.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of UMTIK2014 – 16th International Conference on Machine Design and Production, Izmir, Turkey
Number of pages15
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Chassis geometry
  • Crashworthiness
  • Crash energy
  • Finite element analysis
  • Full-frontal impact

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