Model build up for Crash Analysis

1. Introduction on Crash Analysis:

The purpose of the crash tests was to evaluate the structural response of the car when
subjected to severe, but survivable, impact. Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to
protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety
of vehicles.

Depending on the nature of the impact and the vehicle involved, different criteria are used to
determine the crashworthiness of the structure. Crashworthiness may be assessed either
prospectively, using computer models or experiments, or retrospectively by analyzing crash
outcomes. Several criteria are used to assess crashworthiness prospectively, including the
deformation patterns of the vehicle structure, the acceleration experienced by the vehicle
during an impact, and the probability of injury predicted by human body models. Injury
probability is defined using criteria, which are mechanical parameters (e.g., force, acceleration,
or deformation) that correlate with injury risk. A common injury criterion is the Head impact
criterion (HIC). Crashworthiness is assessed retrospectively by analyzing injury risk in real-
world crashes, often using regression or other statistical techniques to control for the myriad of
confounders that are present in crashes.

Crash worthiness is science of minimizing the risk serious injuries and fatalities of motor vehicle
collision. There are five basic principles involved in reducing the injury producing hazards
following a motor vehicle collision.

1.1) Crashworthiness:

Control Crush- Maintain Survival Space

Restrain the occupant.

Prevent Ejection.

Control Energy/ Transfer energy

Prevent Fire
 For Example:
If all the regulations specified are passed for the frontal crash. The vehicle will be getting 16
points.
Similarly,
Side crash = 16 Points
Pole Test = 2 Points
Seat belt Reminder = 1 Point etc

Points are necessary to rate the vehicle. Rating will be given to vehicle accordingly to the
points from each regulation. To get 5 Star rating, we have to achieve overall of 34-37
points for adult category.

1.2 Types of Testing:

1.2.1. Internal Testing
1.2.2 External Testing

1.2.1 Internal Testing:

Internal Tests is performed based on the internal guidelines prepared by customer.

These tests will conducted on worst cases.
DPC provides the guidelines and requirements to the different departments for tests.
1.2.2 External Testing:

This is the test conducted based on EURO-NCAP for certification of the vehicle.

The EURO-NCAP program is designed to provide a fair, meaningful and objective assessment of
impact performance of cars. It is intended to inform consumers, so providing an incentive to
manufacturers as well as giving credit to those who excel at occupant or pedestrian protection.
The tests are based on those developed for legislation by the European enhanced vehicle safety
committee.

1.3 Homologation:

Homologation is the process of certifying that a particular car is

roadworthy and matches certain specified criteria laid out by the government for all vehicles
made or imported into that country. It is an acceptable practice worldwide.

1.4 Different type of Crash Analysis

1.4.1 Frontal crash:

In the frontal crash two types of test are performed

AMS with speed of 65 KMPH (Internal testing purpose severe case is taken)
BFD with speed of 65 KMPH (for EURO-NCAP mediatic crash)

1.4.2 Side Crash:

In the side crash two types of test are performed

BMD 55KMPH (vehicle is fixed barrier is moving)

AEMDB 50 KMPH and 60 KMPH.

1.4.3 Rear crash:

 In the rear crash two types of crash test are performed

BMR1100kg: Moving barrier with 65 kmph with 50% overlap.

BMR1800kg: Moving barrier with 50 kmph with 100% overlap.

1.4.4 Pole Test:

In this, the vehicle is moving with velocity of 29km/hr and made impact with a fixed pole of
250mm diameter
1.4.5 Anchoring (ECE14):

We use body blocks to represent the dummies

In this test, we are mainly interested with distance moved by the fixation and Plasticity near
the fixation points.

2. MAJOR APPLICATION OF CRASH ANALYSIS:

2.1 Shipping
2.2 Locomotive
2.3 Aerospace
2.4 Automotive (in this document, major emphasize is on Automotive)

3. WHY FEM IS USED FOR CRASH ANALYSIS:

Main aim of FEM for crash is to introduce basics of structural crashworthiness in terms
of solution methodology which can give accurate results and save a lot of testing time,
reduce the money involved and more over reduce the overall design cycle time and
Finite element analysis helps us in retrieving key information data from the effects of
crash or impact loads. In addition to product behavior prediction, we assist in making
important design decisions to develop strong and load resistant products for your
prospective market.

Example images : FE image of a car

3.1 Process in FEA

3.2 Analysis tree Structure

3.3 Step involved in Crash Modeling
4. Different combination of part (Respect to Manufacturing):

4.1 Body in White Modelling Process:

BIW-Body in White in the Automotive Industry BIW (Body in White) is the common
terminology used to mention the car sheet metal welded structure (body shell). In today's
situation, automotive BIW is made of steel (various steel grade material -DP, DD, HDP
etc.) as well as made of aluminum alloy (e.g. AUDI A8). Sub-assemblies like Under body,
Body side Left Hand Side/Right Hand Side, Front End, Roof etc. get welded together by
various metal joining process e.g. resistance spot welding, Laser welding.

4.2 Trim Modelling process:

All the plastic components are Trims that are Dashboard, Door Trim, Pillar Trims,
Roof liner, Seats are mounted on the BIW shell with the help of various brackets or clips or
heat stick or dog house or clip tower on the BIW. As per guidelines given by customer we
have to model the trims and we capture ribs, clip tower, dog house, Honeywell structure,
etc. These are not loading caring part.
4.3 Cast part modelling process:

Components having dimensions in three mutual directions, those type of

components are called as solid components (3D). Manufacturing of high volume and low
cost automotive components such as automatic transmission housings and gear box
components, cradle and mounts. etc are the 3D components. These parts modelled/
Meshed in two type;

a. Hexa meshing
b. TET elements.
5 Generalize Meshing procedure:
6 Connection
6.1 Spot welds

a) Definition: Spot weld connections are normally used between relatively thin sheet metal
components such as those used in car body design. Spot weld used for linking flange and sheets
have to be modeled hexahedron element with tied contact. If beam elements are used instead of
rigid elements, the singularities
Will be found and automatically eliminated

b) Approach: Between two nodes these connection are made (BIW and Trims parts). . A secondary
benefit of using beams for spot welds involves the ease of recovering the welds. Round beam with
the approximate diameter of the spot weld and parent material properties would diameter of the
spot weld and parent material properties would illustrates a typical modeling scenario for spot
welds.

c) Element used: Rigid & Beam elements are used predominately (Body A and B) as shown in the
figure.
6.2 Seam Weld

a) Definition: weld seam are used to connect two flanges A and flanges B, with hexahedron element.
b) Approach: At least 2 elemental rows should require over the flange A for the flange B- 2
elemental rows should require over the sheet required.
c) Element used: Rigid & Beam elements are used predominately (Body A and B)

6.3 Gluing (adhesive)

a) Definition: Gluing-structure is gum like structure used to connect glass like structure. We model
the adhesive line hexa-contact.
b) Approach: Bonnet or fender has to be modeled with solids and connected at the flange-sheets A
and B with TIED contact will be applied. The gluing is defined with curves in CAD
c) Element Used: Some time the gluing is used as rigid RB3 elements with HEX elements

6.4 Bolts

a) Definition: Bolt welds normally occur

between heavy gage plates or stampings. It is
best to design joints so that there is no
slipping under the peak loads. Bolt is helping
to connect two parts.
b) Approach: One part fixed with a beam-spider (core-diameter of bolt) another part connected to
flange-sheet. This can be checked by looking at the shear force resultant and comparing it to the
intended installation tension multiplied by a conservative (lowest) friction coefficient.
c) Element used: using as bolt, rivets elements and solid element.
6.5 Clips

a) Definition: Plastic clips are used to connect plastic parts, these clips woks as beams or rigid
element, have same material as the clip.
b) Approach:
c) Element used: Rigid and beam element are used

6.6 Null shell

a) Definition: Null shell elements are the parent elements extracted from assembly.
b) Approach: This connection used for connect BIW and Trims parts, null shell has zero thickness.
6.7 Hemming

a) Definition: To make tied contact along the edge of the outer panel to clinch with the
width of some dimension
b) Approach: 2D elements are merged at the edges
c) Element used: 2D elements are used
7 Checks

7.1 Penetration Check

The case where an edge of an element crosses another shell element mid surface,
or face on a solid element, is not a penetration in a classical sense in LS-DYNA.
Penetration detection and Intersections is a time consuming task. Hypermesh/ANSA
having auto-fix option by this option, the check can be applied both on pure FE mesh.
Intersections and thickness penetrations are detected and listed. Auto-fix tools
intelligently move the nodes away from each other without creating any local distortions.
Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.2 Contacts Checks

Contact in LS-DYNA is defined using contact surfaces. Contact occurs when one segment
of models outer surface penetrates another segment. The contacts check functionality
detects various possible errors of the contact definitions.
These are:-The validity of the SETs defined as master and slave in the contact.
-In case of TIED contacts, incorrect definition and definitions between the
participating entities are detected. Hypermesh /Ansa have Automatic fixes are available
to facilitate the correction of the model.
-Common entities on slave and master areas (SETs) of a contact are identified and
listed. Visibility functions can help the user to work with each identified error.
-Slave nodes of connection should always be attached to a master segment.
Contacts function identifies the errors and previews them on the model.
-The most important contact check is the identification of contact thickness
penetration. The tool identifies the violating areas per LS-DYNA requirements and
presents them to the user.in Hypermesh/Ansa automatic fix is available that fixes these
penetrations fast and accurately.
Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.3 Connections Check

Hypermesh/Ansa provides advanced powerful checks that validate the connectivity
of the model are available.
Some of these checks include:-Areas that are not connected with the rest of the model
can be identified.
-Spot-welds in contact with elements which have Nodal rigid Bodies attached are
identified. The Automatic fix functionality can offset the contact of the respective spot-
welds.
-Spot-weld beam elements that deviate from the shells normal by a user defined angle
are identified.
-Spot-weld beams with a length greater than a user defined value.

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.4 Rigid Bodies
One of the most common checks for a crash model is the rigid body dependency
check. Hypermesh/ANSAs check identifies and fixes these errors. Any nodes belonging
to two or more rigid parts, nodal rigid bodies, or constrained extra nodes are detected
and listed. The Auto-fix functionality merges these entities to resolve the conflict. In
addition Constraint Nodal Rigid Bodies that are not attached to a structural part can be
identified. Similarly, when an SPC is defined on a rigid body is detected and previewed.

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.5 Check Free

The free nodes check identifies nodes that are referenced by only one entity (dependent
free nodes) or not referenced by any entity (independent free nodes).

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.6 Check Mesh
Multiple checks functionality that checks the quality of the mesh of the model is
available. There are visual checks that show the violating elements color-coded per the
violating criteria. Additional checks that identify negative volumes, trias on boundaries,
or any opposite free edges are also available. Automatic fixes that use advanced
meshing algorithms can reconstruct the mesh locally to create the best possible mesh
quality

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.7 Model DATA Check
The Model Data check identifies whether an entity has not been defined properly.
The cards of each LS-DYNA keyword are checked for any mistake and detected issues
are listed and previewed to the user.

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.8 Check DATABASE keywords

DATABASE keywords related checks are also available.
For example, Hypermesh/ANSA identifies situations where a
DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION is defined but it does not cut through any elements, or
when the user has forgotten to define a DATABASE_SECFORC. Accelerometer elements
that do not reference to a DATABASE_HISTORY are identified and presented to the user.

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.9 Mass Checks
The Massless check identifies grids with no mass. The massless nodes are listed
and highlighted on the model. Mass Scale Ratio check functionality enables engineers to
isolate areas that correspond to a specific range of added mass. The user has just to
type the desired range and Hypermesh/ANSA isolates and lists the corresponding areas.
Moreover, fringe plot of the elements colored according to Additional or Scaled mass
over Physical mass is available allowing for the identification of the elements that cause
mass scaling.

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.10 Check Joints

Checking the validity of the Joints without the use of an advanced tool can be a
very meticulous and time consuming task. Hypermesh/ANSA checks the validity of all
the joint definition of LS-DYNA. Any problems such as, misalignments, wrong order, or
node pairs are identified and auto fixes are available.

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.11 Live checks

Every time a file is imported in Hypermesh/ANSA there is a real time check for
errors and warnings of the read data. The results of the check are presented in a window
notifying the user accordingly. Additionally, Hypermesh/ANSA performs certain checks
every time a new entity is created. For example, Hypermesh/ANSA will not allow the
creation of a new SECTION card with negative thickness value.

Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.12 User defined Checks
There are cases where users have specific custom made tests that would like to
run on their models. ANSA provides libraries of functions for the user to develop a
Python Script. The scripts can interact with the checks manager in the same way as the
hard coded checks do. Figure and flow chart has to be added

7.13 Check list

Qc_Checklist.xlsx

8. Assembling of Parts & Sub-System

8.1 Creating include file
Text, Figure and flow chart has to be added

9. Analysis set / Boundary condition (with different combination of load case)

9.1 Different load Ex., Pressure, force (With include file creation)
9.2 Different constrains (With include file creation)
Text, Figure and flow chart has to be added

10. Reviewing of result

Text, Figure and flow chart has to be added

11. Conclusions: Text, Figure and flow chart has to be added

12. References: Text, Figure and flow chart has to be added