The Optimization Of Passenger Vehicles Buffer Energy Absorbing Structure Based On Interval Uncertainty

Nowadays, vehicle safety has become the focus of attention in the global automotiveindustry. Buffer energy-absorbing structure which is in the front of car crushing zone is themain energy absorption device during the frontal impact. Besides, the occupant injury has aclose correlation with its energy absorbing properties. The material properties and sectionaldimension of front buffer energy-absorbing structure determine the acceleration change andthe integrity of the cockpit after the vehicle collision. Therefore, designing a bufferenergy-absorbing structure which has superior material properties and reasonable sectionaldimension to improve vehicle crashworthiness is full of significance.This paper developed the finite element model of the quadrangular energy-absorbingstructure that is commonly used on the vehicle and it was validated by sled crash test.Different representative metal materials and composite materials were selected asenergy-absorbing materials and their material characteristics were analyzed and compared bysimulation. According to the results, the metal and composite materials were combined into amulti-material energy-absorbing structure, and this new structure was also analyzed by finiteelement simulations.Based on the theoretical basis of interval uncertainty, finite element simulation, Latinsquare design, response surface method and genetic algorithm were used to design thesectional dimension of energy-absorbing structure from multi-objective optimization. And theoptimization result was verified by finite element simulations.The energy-absorbing structure combined with the multi-material and the optimalsectional dimension has been studied based on the Explorer Finite element model to analyseits energy-absorbing properties.The research results indicated that the multi-material body in the interaction of metalmaterials and composite materials exhibited an excellent energy absorption effect. Theenergy-absorbing structure which is combined with the multi-material and optimal sectionaldimension effectively improved vehicle crashworthiness collision and reduced the damage tothe vehicle occupants. The results have some reference value in engineering and could beguideline for the design and improvement of passenger car energy-absorbing structures.