Crashworthiness

Current automotive structures require complex assemblies of various materials and manufacturing processes to achieve lightweight solutions. The manufacturing process to generate these components can greatly influence the macro and micro-mechanical behaviour of these materials and ultimately, the energy absorption characteristics of the geometries in a collision.

At CMRG, we are developing new and advanced constitutive models for lightweight materials under severe deformation during impact loading that account for microstructural phenomenon during manufacturing. Through the use of computational intelligence techniques, such as artificial neural networks and genetic evolution, we are also developing cutting-edge optimization frameworks to generate highly efficient and cost effective geometries for lightweighting applications.

Each technological platform on its own has led to weight savings of 10-15% within structural components. However, these weight savings compound on each other when these frameworks are combined. This has allowed CMRG to achieve up to 40% weight reduction, while reducing the manufacturing cost, for massed production structural components in mid-size vehicles.

Our research areas for crashworthiness

  • Advanced phenomenological plasticity
  • Multi-scale modeling through crystal plasticity
  • Optimization through response surface methodology
  • Deep learning for structural optimization

Select publications:

Different Thicknesses to be Varied for Optimization
Simulated Tube Crush Responses
Experimental Tube Crush Responses