2015 Volume 64 Issue 10 Pages 762-768
Crash safety of a vehicle is based on impact energy absorbed by crashing the structure in a situation that a cabin is protected. Side impact is extremely dangerous for passengers of vehicles. Energy absorption capabilities of the vehicle in side impact are low because there is little room for large deformation of the safety element to absorb impact energy. On the other hand, weight reduction of the vehicle is also important for the fuel efficiency. The purpose of this study is to develop a light and effective energy absorbing member for side impact. In this paper, an energy absorbing tubular member made by a combination of a thin-walled circular tube and a thin-walled square tube was proposed. The effect of the cross-sectional shape of the tubular member on energy absorption capacities under bending impact was investigated by the experiment and the analysis of the finite element code LS-DYNA. From the obtained results, bending strength decreased significantly when the cross section of the member which was subjected to impact bending load was crushed in flat shape. Therefore, energy absorption capacities were able to be improved by preventing flattening deformation of the cross section. Energy absorption capacities of the tubular member were able to be improved by changing its cross-sectional shape without increasing of the weight.
