A novel simplification method for vehicle crashworthiness simulation subject to side impact

Side impacts have been a grave concern to automobile engineers, as they injure and kill numerous people each year. The high computational cost of numerical models with full-size vehicles, however, challenges engineers to find the optimal crashworthiness structural design solution. This study aims to reduce the computational cost of side impact simulations by proposing a novel sub-modeling simplification approach with the double mass points (DMP) method. This method splits the in which the vehicle is split in front and back areas, about the B pillar, and in ‘struck’ and ‘unstruck’ sides. The full vehicle structure (but its 2 wheels) from the unstruck side are removed about the vehicle centreline. The front and rear areas of this removed unstruck side are replaced each by their equivalent mass (DMP) each at their centre of gravity.These masses are then connected the wheels of the unstruck structure as well as the centreline of the remaining structure of the struck side. This method has for purpose to reduce the model size for faster computation. Validated Rogue, Yaris and Caravan full-size numerical finite element models, provided in the literature, are utilized to create generate side impact cases, which include including a moving deformation barrier (MDB) and a pole-side impact scenarios. The vehicle deformation, B-pillar intrusion and acceleration, and door inner panel intrusion of the full-size and simplified models are compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the simplified modeling methods. Results demonstrate that the crushing response of DMP simplified models is captured well compared to full-size computer models, providing a 46.6830.87% and 76.7543.32% average computation runtime reduction in MDB and pole impact, respectively. The DMP simplified model development approach significantly reduces vehicle model simulation time, accelerating the development of side impact structures. During the vehicle concept stage, where understanding structural packaging, such as reinforcement locations and size, is crucial. This news method should invaluable in defining and validating vehicle architecture at the earliest design phase. This novel simplification approach is innovative, practical and can lead to the improvement in the design optimisation of safer vehicles.