Two Material S-Frames Representation for Improving Crashworthiness

Crashworthiness analysis for a passenger car consists of car-body structural analysis and occupant behavior analysis. With raising the energy absorption of each component an improved car-body structure against crashing may be achieved. In this paper various design of a simplified front side rail is studied. Various possible model of S-frame is presented and characteristics of each model are compared and discussed. It is shown that a hybrid S-frame made of steel and aluminum shows better characteristics from the point of view of passenger safety.