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Research on the Lightweight Design of Body-Side Structure Based on Crashworthiness Requirements

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Abstract

Crashworthiness is the most significant variable during lightweight design of vehicle structures. However, crashworthiness studies using the single substructure-based method are limited due to the negligence of interactions among substructures. Thus, a whole structure-based study was conducted for the lightweight design of a body-side structure. In this study, a full finite element model was firstly created and then modified into a simplified model for structural improvements, where the major load-carrying subassemblies were improved from the perspectives of crashworthiness and manufacturing costs. Finally, sensitivity analyses were conducted to further optimize the strength distribution, based on which an adaptive response surface method was employed for thickness optimization of the structure. It is found that through the structural improvements and optimizations, the weight of the structure was significantly reduced even when its crashworthiness was improved. This indicates that the whole structure-based method is effective for lightweight design of vehicle structures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun, 130025, China

    Weimin Zhuang  (庄蔚敏), Hongda Shi  (施宏达) & Changhai Yang  (杨昌海)

  2. FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., Changchun, 130011, China

    Dongxuan Xie  (解东旋)

  3. Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PJ, UK

    Yanhong Chen  (陈延红)

Authors
  1. Weimin Zhuang  (庄蔚敏)
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  2. Hongda Shi  (施宏达)
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  3. Dongxuan Xie  (解东旋)
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  4. Yanhong Chen  (陈延红)
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  5. Changhai Yang  (杨昌海)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongda Shi  (施宏达).

Additional information

Foundation item: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51775227 and 51375201); the National New Energy Vehicle Pilot Project (2016YFB0101601), and the Jilin Scientific and Technological Development Program (No. 20170101130JC)

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Zhuang, W., Shi, H., Xie, D. et al. Research on the Lightweight Design of Body-Side Structure Based on Crashworthiness Requirements. J. Shanghai Jiaotong Univ. (Sci.) 24, 313–322 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-019-2066-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-019-2066-6

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