automotive

In recent years, due to an increase in awareness on safety and stringent crash test regulations, the automotive manufacturers are proceeding towards a smarter design of the occupant space by using the high strength structures for better crashworthiness. The term crashworthiness signifies the ability of the structure to protect the occupant in a crash scenario. Crash performance requirements are focused on occupant injury parameters and structural deformation measurements like intrusion, acceleration, and velocity of the deforming structure. Protecting people inside crash is challenging because the sides of vehicles have relatively little space to absorb energy and shield occupants, unlike the front and rear, which have substantial crumple zones. From the discussions above, it is clear that an optimized body structure is an obligation for satisfying the legal requirements for improving safety in side impact crash events.
In the following, a number of our lab projects in this area are presented:

• Composite reinforcing of the vehicle structures for enhancing the resistance in side crashes (More Info)