| The application of light-weight metallic materials (especially aluminum alloys) in tubular section shapes in the front end of automotive vehicles for crashworthiness and occupant protection is drawing considerable attention. Adhesively bonded aluminum hat sections offer light-weight solutions as energy absorbing members.; Aluminum hat section, either adhesively bonded or unbonded, experiences buckling, post buckling and plastic collapse when axially loaded. The analytical solution for the critical buckling stress of the adhesively bonded aluminum hat section under static axial compression is obtained using the thin plate theory based governing partial differential equation derived by Saint Venant. The relative critical buckling stress is computed according to the transcendental equations. Finite element analyses were performed to simulate the static structural collapse, and a variety of modeling schemes are introduced.; The real role of the adhesive material in the adhesively bonded hat sections in terms of energy absorption is that the adhesive does not absorb a great amount of energy by itself but shifting the buckling mode to a higher level, and hence the structure presents a higher buckling mode related buckling strength. Based on the higher buckling mode, the structure normally is not highly distorted as in the unbonded case so that the entire cross section is effectively carrying the plastic collapse load.; The dynamic impact response of the adhesively bonded hat sections is explored both computationally and empirically. It is found that the finite element simulation creates satisfactory correlation to the impact test results, meanwhile, the empirical evaluation presents a quite conservative specific energy absorption. |
