The purpose of this research is to make an investigation into the crashworthiness modelling of Sheet Moulding Compound (SMC) composite materials, and to study the response of SMC composite structures under dynamic loading. The primary research objectives are thus to review classical and advanced material failure models, and to perform numerical simulation of the crash of composite structures using already available material models. Additionally, a new material model is to be developed for implementation into a commercially available finite element package. In parallel with the numerical simulation of the crasrung of an SMC composite structure, experimentation is performed which is used as a source of validation and comparison with the simulation. For this purpose a testing regime is introduced, which may be mirrored in simulation. As any material model requires initial experimental inputs, the purpose of experimentation is twofold, with testing required both for the quantification of the required model inputs and the basic material characterisation before simulation may begin, as well as for the proposed validation and comparison after the simulation has been carried out. Thus the design of the testing methodology, as well as the design, selection and fabrication of the testing equipment and the composite specimens and demonstrators, as well the actual testing itself, are necessary secondary requirements of the project. Once the testing regime has been facilitated and carried out, numerical simulation validation using already available composite material models may then be carried out at various levels. The results are then analysed and validated with the resultant justification of a new model being developed. The critical viewpoint to be delivered throughout is the need for theoretical formulations for material modelling to be extensively researched and validated in terms of their implementabilty and practicality, a key analysis seemingly missing in most technical write-ups. Such analyses are performed and discussed here, rughlighting the volume of additional work that is encompassed by such a study. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Lighter structural and energy absorbing materials are essential to increase fuel efficiency in transportation systems and have provided a motivation to investigate the use of new joining techniques based on the use of high strength and high tenacity adhesives. Current joining techniques, such as spot-welding, limit the possible weight reduction that can be achieved if lighter sections, dissimilar materials and/or novel geometries were to be used. Adhesive materials can address many limitations of current joining techniques. To take advantage of the available numerical codes for the simulation of bonded structures during dynamic crash events, a constitutive model for structural adhesive material using cohesive elements was assembled from the measured properties of two structural adhesives; DP-460NS and EC-2214 (3M, Canada). To verify that the proposed cohesive model accurately describes the behavior of the materials a two stage approach was used. First, a cohesive element formulation of the adhesive material was implemented to investigate a Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) (ASTM test D3433-99). The results of the simulation were compared against available experimental data. Second, using sub-size crush tube structures assembled from steel sections that were adhesively bonded, quasi-static and impact events were performed. The results from the experiment were compared against the numerical simulation of the same structure using cohesive elements to describe the adhesive joint. Later, Tie-Breaks were implemented to reduce computational times. Both types of elements successfully represented the adhesive joint and the numerical model of the crush tube was in good agreement with the overall load-displacement behavior of the experimental crush tubes. The use and testing of sub-size structures not only permitted the validation of the numerical models; it also investigated the feasibility of adhesive-only joints in automotive structures that may be exposed to crash scenarios. Sub-sized tubes were used due to equipment capacity limits, but an analysis was undertaken to demonstrate appropriate structural scaling. Even though the results between the experiments and the simulations were in very good agreement, it is clear that current cohesive material models and Tie-Breaks cannot incorporate strain rate effects, which may be important under dynamic impact conditions. Although testing in the literature has reported that the mechanical properties of the bond are affected by the properties of the joined materials as well as the geometry of the joint, these effects in the case of crush tube structures seem perhaps negligible in view of the simulation results.

Over the past several decades increasing focus has been paid to the impact of structures where energy, during the impact event, needs to be absorbed in a controlled manner. This has led to considerable research being carried out on energy absorbers, devices designed to dissipate energy during an impact event and hence protect the structure under consideration. Energy absorbers have found common usage in applications such as vehicles, aircraft, highway barriers and at the base of lift shafts. A type of energy absorber which has received relatively limited attention in the open literature is the tapered rectangular tube. Such a structure is essentially a tube with a rectangular cross-section in which one or more of the sides are inclined to the tube's longitudinal axis. The aim of this thesis was to analyse the impact and energy absorption response of tapered and non-tapered (straight) rectangular tubes. The energy absorption response was quantified for both axial and oblique loading, representative of the loading conditions typically encountered in impact applications. Since energy absorbers are commonly used as components in energy absorbing systems, the response of such a system was analysed which contained either straight or tapered rectangular tubes as the energy absorbing components. This system could typically be used as the front bumper system of a vehicle. Detailed finite element models, validated using experiments and existing theoretical and numerical models, were used to assess the energy absorption response and deformation modes of straight and tapered tubes under the various loading conditions. The manner in which a thin-walled tube deforms is important since it governs its energy absorption response. The results show that the energy absorption response of straight and tapered rectangular tubes can be controlled using their various geometry parameters. In particular, the wall thickness, taper angle and the number of tapered sides can be effectively used as parameters to control the amount of absorbed energy. Tapered rectangular tubes display less sensitivity to inertia effects compared with straight rectangular tubes under impact loading. This is beneficial when the higher crush loads associated with inertia effects need to be reduced. Furthermore, though the energy absorption capacity of thin-walled rectangular tubes diminishes under oblique impact loading, the capacity is more maintained for tapered rectangular tubes compared with non-tapered rectangular tubes. Overall, the results highlight the advantages of using tapered rectangular tubes for absorbing impact energy under axial and oblique loading conditions. Understanding is gained as to how the geometry parameters of such structures can be used to control the absorbed energy. The thesis uses this knowledge to develop design guidelines for the use of straight and tapered rectangular tubes in energy absorbing systems such as for crashworthiness applications. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of analysing thin-walled energy absorbers as part of an energy absorbing system, since the response of the absorbers may be different to when they are treated on their own.

Ce mémoire s’intéresse à la conception robuste de systèmes complexes dans le cadre de l’ingénierie système et de la méthode First Design. Ces travaux s’appliquent plus particulièrement aux prestations en choc frontal de véhicules de la gamme Renault. L’objectif principal de ces travaux est de proposer une méthode de conception robuste basée sur la modélisation numérique des prestations crash du véhicule. Cette stratégie vise à assurer la robustesse du produit dès la phase de conception, afin d’éviter des modifications de conception tardives et coûteuses, conséquences d’apparition de problèmes durant le cycle de validation ou la vie série du véhicule. Les spécificités du crash sont le coût important des simulations, la forte non linéarité du phénomène, ainsi que les bifurcations de comportement. Ces particularités rendent les méthodes classiques de conception robuste peu efficaces ou très couteuses. Afin de répondre à ce problème, nous développons une méthode originale, baptisée détection de défaillances, permettant d’identifier les problèmes de robustesse en crash, afin de les corriger dès le cycle de conception. Cette méthode est basée sur l’utilisation des techniques d’optimisation par les plans d’expériences. La méthode développée vise aussi à intégrer l’expertise des concepteurs crash afin de localiser rapidement les défaillances, ce qui permet de limiter le nombre de simulations nécessaires. La contrepartie d’une méthode de conception robuste reposant sur la simulation numérique est la nécessité d’avoir un bon niveau de confiance dans les résultats du modèle. On propose donc dans ce mémoire des améliorations des modèles éléments finis des véhicules Renault, afin d’améliorer la qualité de la simulation. Ces travaux vont dans le sens d’un remplacement des prototypes physiques par des prototypes numériques dans l’industrie, enjeu majeur permettant la réduction des coûts et des délais de développement. Cet enjeu est particulièrement important dans un secteur automobile très concurrentiel, où la survie d’un constructeur dépend de ses coûts et de sa réactivité face au marché. / This PhD thesis deals with robust design of complex products, within the framework of system engineering methods, such as First Design. This work focuses on frontal crashworthiness of Renault vehicles. The main goal of this PhD is to develop a robust design method based on crashworthiness numerical simulation. This method aims at ensuring the robustness of a vehicle crashworthiness right from the design stage of the product, in order to avoid costly design modifications, necessary when problems are found during the validation cycle or the life cycle of the product. Characteristics of crashworthiness phenomena are a high cost of numerical simulation, highly non-linear and bifurcative behaviour. Due to this behaviour, classic robust design methods would be unefficient or very expensive to use. In order to face this problem, we develop an original robust design method, based on optimization using design of experiments method. The goal of this method is to identify crash failures as soon as possible in the design stage, in order to correct them. This method also aims at integrating knowledge from the crash engineers, in order to find crash failures quickly, using as few simulations as possible. A challenge we meet when using numerical simulation of the crashworthiness is the need to trust the results of the model. This thesis also deals with improvements in the crash models at Renault. This work is well suited for a very competitive industry such as the automotive, where car manufacturers need to replace physical prototypes with numerical ones, in order to reduce design costs and be more reactive.

A finite element model of fibre metal laminate (FML) fuselage was developed in order to evaluate its impact response under survivable crash event. To create a reliable crash finite element (FE) model of FML fuselage, a ‘building block approach’ is adapted. It involves a series of validation and verification tasks in order to establish reliable material and damage models, verified impact model with structural instability and large displacement and verified individual fuselage structure under crash event. This novel development methodology successfully produced an FE model to simulate crash of both aluminium alloy and FML fuselage under survivable crash event using ABAQUS/Explicit. On the other hand, this allows the author to have privilege to evaluate crashworthiness of fuselage that implements FML fuselage skin for the whole fuselage section for the first time in aircraft research field and industry. The FE models consist of a two station fuselage section with one meter longitudinal length which is based on commercial Boeing 737 aircraft. For FML fuselage, the classical aluminium alloy skin was replaced by GLARE grade 5-2/1. The impact response of both fuselages was compared to each other and the results were discussed in terms of energy dissipation, crushing distance, failure modes, failure mechanisms and acceleration response at floor-level. Overall, it was observed that FML fuselage responded similarly to aluminium alloy fuselage with some minor differences which conclusively gives great confidence to aircraft designer to use FML as fuselage skin for the whole fuselage section. In terms of crushing distance, FML fuselage skin contributed to the failure mechanisms of the fuselage section that lead to higher crushing distance than in aluminium alloy fuselage. The existence of various failure modes within FML caused slight differences from the aluminium fuselage in terms of deformation process and energy dissipation. These complex failure modes could potentially be manipulated to produce future aircraft structure with better crashworthiness performance.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Thin-walled structures find wide applications in the automotive industry as energy absorption devices. A great deal of research has been conducted to design thin-walled structures, where the main objective is to reduce peak crushing forces and increase energy absorption capacity. With the advancement of computers and mathematics, it has been possible to develop 2D patterns which when folded turn into complex 3D structures. This technology can be used to develop patterns for getting structures with desired properties. In this study, square origami tubes with folding pattern (Yoshimura pattern) is designed and studied extensively using numerical analysis. An accurate Finite Element Model (FEM) is developed to conduct the numerical analysis. A parametric study was conducted to study the influence of geometric parameters on the mechanical properties like peak crushing force, mean crushing force, load uniformity and maximum intrusion, when subjected to dynamic loading. The results from this analysis are studied and various conclusions are drawn. It is found that, when the tube is folded with the pattern having specific dimensions, the performance is enhanced significantly, with predictable and stable collapse. It is also found that the stiffness of the module varies with geometrical parameters. With a proper study it is possible to develop origami structures with functionally graded stiffness, the performance of which can be tuned as per requirement, hence, showing promising capabilities as an energy absorption device where progressive collapse from near to end impact end is desired.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Design optimization of composite structures is of importance in the automotive, aerospace, and energy industry. The majority of optimization methods applied to laminated composites consider linear or simplified nonlinear models. Also, various techniques lack the ability to consider the composite failure criteria. Using artificial neural networks approximates the objective function to make it possible to use other techniques to solve the optimization problem. The present work describes an optimization process used to find the optimum design to meet crashworthiness requirements which includes minimizing peak crushing force and specific energy absorption for a square tube. The design variables include the number of plies, ply angle and ply thickness of the square tube. To obtain an effective approximation an artificial neural network (ANN) is used. Training data for the artificial neural network is obtained by crash analysis of a square tube for various samples using LS DYNA. The sampling plan is created using Latin Hypercube Sampling. The square tube is considered to be impacted by the rigid wall with fixed velocity and rigid body acceleration, force versus displacement curves are plotted to obtain values for crushing force, deceleration, crush length and specific energy absorbed. The optimized values for the square tube to fulfill the crashworthiness requirements are obtained using an artificial neural network combined with Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithms (MOGA). MOGA finds optimum values in the feasible design space. Optimal solutions obtained are presented by the Pareto frontier curve. The optimization is performed with accuracy considering 5% error.

No description available.

This study looks at the feasibility of using structural optimization techniques to address the problem of designing composite fuselage frames for crashworthiness. A key feature of any optimization strategy for increasing structural crashworthiness is a progressive failure analysis. Currently, the most widely used analysis methods for progressive failure of composite structures are considered too expensive computationally for practical optimization in today's computing environment. Developing an efficient analysis method for progressive failure of composite frames is a first step in the optimization for crashworthiness. In the current work a progressive failure analysis for thin-walled open cross-section curved composite frames is developed using a Vlasov type beam theory. A curved thin-walled composite beam theory is developed and a finite element implementation of the beam theory is used for progressive failure analysis. The accuracy and limitations of this analysis method are discussed. A model for progressive failure of the composite fuselage frame is developed from an extension of the laminate progressive failure analysis of Tsai-Wu. Comparisons based on a limited amount of available experimental data are encouraging. The first major failure event is captured by the theory, and the prediction of total energy absorbed follows the trend of the experimental data. It is believed that this accuracy is sufficient for preliminary design and optimization for crashworthiness. This progressive failure analysis is then incorporated into a frame optimization for crashworthiness based on the genetic algorithm method. The optimization methodology is demonstrated analytically to obtain frame designs with substantially increased crashworthlness. Laminate stacking sequence and cross-section shape are design variables for optimization / Ph. D.

Short, J-section columns fabricated from a textile composite are tested in axial compression to study the modes of failure with and without local buckling occuring.The textile preform architecture is a 2x2, 2-D triaxial braid with a yarn layup of [0 deg 18k/+-64 deg 6k] 39.7% axial. The preform was resin transfer molded with 3M PR500 epoxy resin. Finite element analyses (FEA) of the test specimens are conducted to assess intra- and inter- laminar progressive failure models. These progressive failure models are then implemented in a FEA of a circular fuselage frame of the same cross section and material for which test data was available. This circular frame test article had a nominal radius of 120 inches, a forty-eight degree included angle, and was subjected to a quasi-static, radially inward load, which represented a crash type loading of the frame. The short column test specimens were cut from some of the fuselage frames. The branched shell finite element model of the frame included geometric nonlinearity and contact of the load platen of the testing machine with the frame. Intralaminar progressive failure is based on a maximum in-plane stress failure criterion followed by a moduli degradation scheme. Interlaminar progressive failure was implemented using an interface finite element to model delamination initiation and the progression of delamination cracks. Inclusion of both the intra- and inter- laminar progressive failure models in the FEA of the frame correlated reasonably well with the load-displacement response from the test through several major failure events. / Master of Science