IMPACT ANALYSIS ON COMPOSITE BUMPER

Submitted by

T.SAI AKHIL
REVANTH GORRIPATI

Research Practice
BITS G540

Instructor-in-charge
Dr. P.PAVAN KUMAR
Department of Mechanical Engineering
BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We avail this opportunity to express my profound sense of sincere and deep gratitude
to those who have played an indispensable role in the accomplishment of the project
work given to us by providing their willing guidance and help.
We would like to thank Dr. P.PAVAN KUMAR of Department of Mechanical
Engineering for his kind and continual support and constructive suggestion given
during the entire course of this project. We are blissful to express my deep sense of
gratitude to them for their constant interaction, expert guidance and valuable
suggestions that helped us to complete this project successfully.

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 Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani,

Hyderabad Campus

Certificate

This is to certify that the project report entitled “ IMPACT ANALYSIS ON

COMPOSITE BUMPER ” submitted by T.SAI AKHIL (2018H1410127H) &
G.REVANTH (2018H1410137H) in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
course BITS G540: RESEARCH PRACTICE , embodies the work done by him under
my supervision and guidance.

Date: (Dr. P.PAVAN KUMAR)

BITS- Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

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 ABSTRACT

The present work deals with the replacement of automobile bumper material with
composites to gauge the increase in the performance. In general composites have more
advantages in terms of low raw material cost, easy availabitliy, better strength,
renewable and less harm to environment..In the present work simulations were carried
out choosing glass-epoxy and Carbon-epoxy as the composite materials. Impact
properties such as energy absorption and reaction force of the composite bumper have
been obtained and compared between glass-epoxy and carbon epoxy composites.For
better understanding and visualization of the failure in composite bumper, Hashin
damage model related to composites have been incorporated into the analysis.

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 CONTENTS

Title page……………………………………………………………………………1

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………2

Certificate…………………………………………………………….......................3

Abstract………………………………………………………………......................4

Introduction……………………………………….…………...................................6

Literature review………………………………………………………....................7

Specimen Dimensions………………………………………………………………8

Material Properties………………………………………………………………… 9

Abaqus Analysis…………………………………………………………………10-13

Results……………………………………………………………………………14-17

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….18

References………………………………………………………………………….19

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 INTRODUCTION

Automobile bumper is the frontal and rear structure of the vehicle which has the main
function of absorbing energy during the time of collision with a low velocity.The
main desirable properties of a bumper is to have good deformation inorder to absorb
the impact energy and at the same time it should posses good strength inorder to
safeguard the chasis or frame of the automobile and nearby vehicle componets.
Keeping in mind the above properites required for a bumper, composites are selected
as one of the material for the automobile bumper.

Composites apart from having good impact properties also serve additional properties
such as low density,acceptable specific strength properties,low cost and
biodegradability. Some of the examples of fibers that have secured success in field of
automobile are carbon,glass,hemp, kenaf, flax,sisal and bamboo which are generally
obtained from plants and synthetic materials.Composites have various applications in
the automobile industry due to the fact that the manufactures have started replacing
the steel parts with composites to reduce the weight of the vehicle.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

Applications of composites with natural and synthetic fibers as reinforcement material

has lot of challenges.From previous studies it was observed that the natural fiber
reinforced composites have lower mechanical properties as compared to the synthetic
fiber reinforced composites due to inherent variability and poor adhesion with many
polymeric matrices. Many works have been reported inorder to improve the interfacial
bonding between natural fibers and matrix through various chemical treatement of the
natural fibers or by using different coupling agents.Another way of improving the
mechanical properites of fibers is through hybridization.Previous researcher’s work
provide an evidence that the combination of natural/natural and natural/synthetic fiber
based hybrid composites have better mechanical properties than individual fiber
reinforced composites.Natural fibers are used in different forms in fiber-reinforced
polymer composites, such as continuous, randomly oriented and woven fabric mat.It
was observed from one of the previous studies about the composite that the weaving of
natural fibers in different orientations makes the composites stronger and comparable
those of synthetic fibers.

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 SPECIMEN DIMENSIONS

Length: 2.5 meters

Outer diameter: 0.14 meters

Inner diameter: 0.10 meters

Material Properties:

Property Glass -epoxy Carbon-epoxy

𝑁
Longitudinal young’s modulus (E1) (𝑚2 ) 31.2 × 109 153 × 109

Transverse young’s modulus (E2=E3) 9.36 × 109 10.3 × 109

𝑁
( 2)
𝑚

𝑁
Longitudinal shear modulus (G1) ( ) 5 × 109 6 × 109
𝑚2

𝑁
Transverse shear modulus (G2) (𝑚2 ) 5.5 × 109 6 × 109

𝑁
Transverse shear modulus (G3) (𝑚2 ) 5.5 × 109 3.7 × 109

Poisson ratio (𝜗) 0.29 0.3

Density (𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 ) 1850 1600

Rigid body:

Mass, m=1000 kg

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HASINS DAMAGE PARAMETERS & DAMAGE EVOLUTION:

Property Glass -epoxy Carbon-epoxy

𝑁
Longitudinal tensile strength (𝑚2 ) 414 × 106 2357 × 106

𝑁
Longitudinal compressive strength (𝑚2 ) 458 × 106 1580 × 106

𝑁
Transverse tensile strength (𝑚2 ) 414 × 106 82 × 106

𝑁
Transverse compressive strength ( ) 458 × 106 236 × 106
𝑚2

𝑁
Longitudinal shear strength ( ) 105 × 106 90 × 106
𝑚2

𝑁
Transverse shear strength (𝑚2 ) 65 × 106 40 × 106

Longitudinal tensile fracture energy (𝐽) 10000 91600

Longitudinal compressive fracture energy (𝐽) 1562 79900

Transverse tensile fracture energy (𝐽) 62.5 220

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 ABAQUS ANALYSIS

Composite Layup:
The composite bumper is made up of 8 layers with orientations respectively:

layer 1: 0°

layer 2: 45°

layer 3: 90°

layer 4: 0°

layer 5: 45°

layer 6: 90°

layer 7: 0°

layer 8: 45°

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Boundary Conditions:

• Predefined Velocity of Rigid body: 5.56 𝑚/𝑠𝑒𝑐

• The bumper is encastered at a certain distance from ends on both sides

Step:

Abaqus Explicit

Time Period:0.22 s

Interaction:
General Contact Explicit

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Mesh:
Type: linear quadrilateral elements of type S4R

Simulation:

Fiber compressive initiation criterion:

1)Carbon-Epoxy

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2)Glass-Epoxy

Damage initiation refers to the onset of degradation at a material point. In Abaqus

the damage initiation criteria for fiber- reinforced composites are based on Hashin's
theory. These criteria consider four different damage initiation mechanisms: fiber
tension, fiber compression, matrix tension, and matrix compression.

The above fig Represents the Fiber compressive initiation criterion in both Glass-
Epoxy and Carbon-Epoxy Composite

The initiation criteria have the following general forms:

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Results:

Energy vs displacement:

Energy vs time:

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Energy Absorbed by Carbon-Epoxy Composite is 2.047 KJ

Energy Absorbed by Glass-Epoxy Composite is 1.01 KJ

The current trend in vehicle safety component design is to develop a frontal and rear
Bumper that can absorb most of the impact energy and decrease the deceleration of
the occupant inside.

Since the Energy Absorbed by Carbon-Epoxy is more it is preferred over Glass-Epoxy

composite Bumper.

Reaction force vs displacement:

Reaction Force vs Time:

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Reaction Force on Carbon-Epoxy Composite is 25.76 KN

Reaction Force on Glass-Epoxy Composite is 11.83 KN

low peak load will yield low decelerations and this is one of the key points that should
be controlled during vehicle passive safety component design.

As the bumper is subjected to transverse loading, the composite material is relatively

weak in the transverse direction ,fractures take place at the extremities leading to a
progressive failure. Therefore, as far as it is possible to control the displacement or
keeping the displacement within the design limit, besides the mechanical and physical
properties, this progressive deformability is an important feature in the passive safety
behavior of the bumper component.

Displacement vs Time:

Displacement of Carbon-Epoxy Composite is 98.38 mm

Displacement of Glass-Epoxy Composite is 103.8 mm

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When designing the bumper system, the deformation of the bumper beam must be
less in order to protect the other components from damage. And the maximum stress
cannot exceed the yield stress,the weight of the bumper beam should be minimized
as much as possible.

Stress Distrubution :
1) Glass-Epoxy

2) Carbon-Epoxy

The above fig shows the stress distrubition over the entire length of the bumper, and
the maximum stress cannot exceed the ultimate stress,the weight of the bumper
beam should be minimized as much as possible.

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CONCLUSION:
From the analysis it is observed that the energy absorption of carbon epoxy composite
bumper is more than the energy absorption of glass epoxy composite.As we include
the hasins damage criteria, there was a significant reduction in the energy absorption
in both the composite materials.

Generally, in design development of composite bumper beam, an optimal bumper

beam curvature radius, besides improving vehicle aerodynamic performance, actually
gives a contribution to the vehicle safety enhancement.

The steel can be replaced by the composite bumper since the composite has great
advantages over steel in terms of lightweight. These advantages are also conductive
to the improvement of fuel efficiency and the decrease of emission of harmful
pollutants.

FUTURE SCOPE:
The impact analysis on the composite bumper can be extended to natural fibers like
flax,hemp,jute etc. In general pure natural fibers have lower mechanical properties
when compared to synthetic fibers. But natural fibers mechanical properties can be
improved by subjecting them to some chemical treatments like alakali treatment etc.

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REFERENCES:
1) Geometrical optimization of bumper beam profile made of pultruded
composite by numerical simulation Giovanni Belingardi, Alem Tekalign
Beyene,Ermias,Gebrekidan,Koricho.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2013.02.013

2) Modelling damage evolution in composite laminates subjected to low velocity

impact Y. Shi, T. Swait, C. Soutis.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.03.039

3) Comparative study between XFEM and Hashin damage criterion applied to failure
of composites A.P.C. Duarte, A. Díaz Sáez, N. Silvestre.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2017.02.020

4)Progressive damage modelling in fiber-reinforced materials Ireneusz Lapczyk ,Juan

A. Hurtado.

5) Progressive damage modeling in carbon fibers/carbon nanotubes reinforced

polymer composites M. Tarfaoui, A. El Moumen, K. Lafdi.

6) Impact behaviour of hybrid composites for structural applications: A Review by

Syafiqah Nur Azrie Safri ,Mohamed Thariq Hameed Sultan, Mohammad Jawaid,
Kandasamy Jayakrishna.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2017.09.008

7) Mechanical properties of banana/kenaf fiber-reinforced hybrid polyester

composites:Effect of woven fabric and random orientation by A. Alavudeen, N.Rajini,
S. Karthikeyan, M. Thiruchitrambalam, N.Venkateshwaren.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2014.10.067

8) Effect of external basalt layers on durability behaviour of flax reinforced

composites V. Fiore , T. Scalici , L. Calabrese , A. Valenza , E. Proverbio
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2015.08.087

9)Modelling damage evolution in composite laminates subjected to low

velocity impact Y. Shi,T. Swait, C. Soutis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.03.039

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