Systematic design process for frontal crashworthiness of aluminium-intensive electrical vehicle bodies

Abstract

In the design of an aluminium-intensive body used for an electrical vehicle, a systems engineering approach, composed of system analysis, an optimization task to support the requirements, functional analysis, and a synthesis task, is introduced. Using these systems engineering concepts, the mounting and package requirements were determined through the estimation of force distribution and energy absorption of the front structure. The average acceleration, the effective crash spaces, and the collapse characteristics of an aluminium-intensive body were used for the idealization of the plastic collapse stiffness curve of the front longitudinal member. The geometric dimensions of rectangular and circular front longitudinal members in axial and bending collapse were determined by quasi-static simulations based on the approximation equations of axial and bending collapse modes. In the development process, a full vehicle crash test was performed to verify computer aided engineering (CAE) simulation and assess the feasibility of the design process.