Title: Effects of stacking sequences, inclination angles, and foam thickness of the hood sandwich structures for pedestrian safety using finite element modelling

Authors: Azzam Ahmed; Li Wei

Addresses: Department of the Textile Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology of Industries, Sudan University of Science and Technology, Sudan; Key Laboratory for Green and Advanced Civil Engineering Materials and Application Technology of Hunan Province, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, Hunan Province, China ' College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China

Abstract: The type of material of the automobile hood plays an essential role in pedestrian safety, which can be the primary factor in reducing the risk level of the head impact during an event of the collision between the front part of the vehicle hood and a human head. The composite materials are utilised rather than steel and metal thanks to their higher stiffness, lightweight, and ability to absorb impact energy. In this study, the finite model's design was carried out using ABAQUS/Explicit to predict the level of protection of structures to pedestrians throughout a collision. The effects of different laminate lay-ups, inclination angles, and foam core thicknesses of the hood panel on HIC value, displacement, and absorbed energy were investigated and evaluated. The validity of the simulation results is confirmed using the Euro-NCAP assessment protocol. The benefit of this finite element modelling is that it could suitably predict the risk level of pedestrian injury.

Keywords: pedestrian head impact; head injury criteria; composite sandwich panel; adult headform; FEM; finite element modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2019.110731

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2019 Vol.81 No.1/2, pp.56 - 75

Accepted: 05 Apr 2020
Published online: 28 Oct 2020 *

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