There have been ever-increasing demands for higher levels of passive safety for automobile occupants. With small-sized vehicles in particular, we are facing the major problem of reducing occupant injury with a limited crush stroke. To cope with the problem, a body structure that effectively absorbs impact due to collision should be designed and developed. This paper reports the confirmation that a side member structure featuring a rectangular cross section is capable of ensuring a similar level of energy absorption to that of a hexagonal cross section. This was realized through the combination of the advantages of the thin-walled side member characteristics and addition of several corner lines to ensure equal ratios for the width and thickness of each side-wall. Static compression experiments and computer simulations were performed. Those results are also described. (A)
Samenvatting