Automotive Science and Engineering

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Thin-walled structures play an important role in absorbing the energy in a low impact crash of vehicles up to saving lives from high impact Injury. In this paper, the thin-walled columns by using a hybrid Design of Experiments (DOE) and Ant Colony Algorithm (ACO) has been optimized. The analysis of the behavior of the nonlinear models under bending load is done using finite-element software Abaqus. The objective is to study the performance geometrically parameters of the columns using DOE-ACO approach.
DOE method is being applied to determine the effects of cross-sections, material, and thickness on the energy absorption; and the ACO method is used for finding more accurate thickness on energy absorption. Four types of thin-walled cross-sections, i.e., circle, ellipse, hexagon, and square are used in this study. The optimized results of DOE method show that aluminum alloy (Al-6061) and high strength low alloy steel (HSLA) square columns have a higher energy absorption in comparison with the other cross-sections. However, the amount of absorbed energy in two types of columns is equal but, 50 percent weight reduction may be seen in Al-6061 columns. The columns are re-optimized by ACO to find the best thickness in the last step.
In the following, by topology optimization participation, a new plan is proposed by the same thickness and 50% less weight, that has a higher crashworthiness efficiency by increasing SAE more than 70%. As a result of this plan is bridging the gap between standard topological design and multi-criteria optimization.
 

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Application of Mg alloy parts in automotive industry is increasing to reduce weight and fuel consumption. One of the high potential parts for application of Mg alloys is the front seat frame. However, change of material is accompanied by change of manufacturing process and change of design for the seat frame. In the present research while keeping the reference overall ergonomic outline, a new substitute Mg alloy design was proposed, featuring a simple easy to manufacture Z profile. Next, a two-stage optimization technique (size and shape) is proposed for the Mg seat frame based on the stress and displacement criteria of standard test plans. The final optimized design is close to fully-stressed state and is 70% lighter than the reference steel backrest.

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The primary objective of a brake disc is to absorb frictional heat during braking and dissipated it immediately by convection and radiation. However, during hard and repetitive brakings, thermal coning on brake disc generates surface hot spots which are responsible for the undesired accumulation of compressive stresses on the surface of the brake disc. These stresses would lead to disc cracking and finally failure of it. In the current paper, a coupled transient thermo-mechanical FE analysis of a heavy vehicle braking system is carried out in a way that thermal coning of the disc and surface hot spots and bands are recognizable. Braking condition is chosen from a standard for hard braking in trucks. Moreover, five additional braking actions with different severities are investigated to study the effects of braking severity on thermo-mechanical instability of brake discs. Comparison of numerical results of transient temperature during braking and cooling phases with experiment reveal a high accuracy of thermal prediction of this model. Also, the results show that thermal coning of brake disc is varied between 0.05 to 0.7 mm depending on braking severity and tangential location of the disc. Additionally, surface hot spots experience higher temperature gradients in higher decelerations. Finally, results show that circumferential compressive stresses during braking are the major component of thermal stresses and should be taken into account for life estimation analysis.

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Thin-walled columns are frequently employed in vehicle structures to diminish the damages resulting from vehicle collisions. In this research, the effect of hole shapes and dimensions on crushing behavior of octagonal multi-cell columns subjected to longitudinal loading is studied. Rectangular, hexagonal and elliptical holes are assumed on the octagonal multi-cell columns, and crushing parameters (i.e. specific energy absorption SEA and maximum crushing force F_max) are then obtained by performing numerical analyses in LS-DYNA. The results demonstrate that creation of holes on column walls improve crushing capability significantly, such that creation of rectangular, hexagonal and elliptical holes on the octagonal multi-cell columns increases the value of SEA by 37%, 42% and 39%, respectively in comparison to the plain octagonal column. On the other hand, presence of holes on the octagonal columns results in reduction of F_max (as a negative crushing indicator).

 

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In the present work, the energy absorption study of warm-rolled LZ71 sheet is done for the first time. To do so, Lithium (7% Wt), Zinc (1% Wt) and Magnesium are cast in 770⁰C. After that, the billet has been warm-rolled at 350⁰C and its thickness reduced by 80%. Then, two different heat treatment situations are studied to reach an isotropic plate. Afterward, microstructures of the specimens have been studied using an optical microscope. Tensile tests of the samples are derived to study the mechanical properties and isotropy of the sheets. Moreover, the results of tensile tests applied for crushing simulations. Energy absorption study of the alloy is also done using ABAQUS/Explicit commercial code. The results of simulations are validated using experimental tests of A6082 and completely acceptable performance of simulations is observed. Then, the mechanical properties of LZ71 are used to study the crashworthiness behavior of the mentioned alloy. Crash absorption parameters, namely peak crush force (F_Max), mean crush force (F_Mean), Total Energy Absorption (TAE), Crush Force Efficiency (CFE), Specific Energy Absorption (SEA) and Total Efficiency (TE) of LZ71 and A6082 are compared which are shown that the performance of LZ71 is considerably more efficient than A6082. Lastly, by the help of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Taguchi Method, the effects of dimensional parameters of tube, namely diameter, length and thickness, on F_Max, F_Mean and TAE and also the influences of dimensionless geometrical ratios, namely L/D and D/t on CFE, SEA and TE are surveyed comprehensively.

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This paper introduces a new configuration of ladder chassis containing a set of linear wave springs to improve the lateral stability of road vehicles. The governing equations for lateral stability of the ladder frame equipped with linear wave springs were derived. In order to investigate this new system a unit base of the ladder frame equipped with linear wave springs and a typical ladder frame were modeled using FEM methods (ABAQUS) with the same size conditions. This comparative study is utilized to validate the derived equations and also to compare the effectiveness of the new designed system with typical ladder frames. Results indicate that the new system has considerably improved the lateral stability of the vehicle during road transportation and also noticeably decreased the stress on the side and cross members.

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In this paper, mechanical properties of welded single lap joints of pure aluminum sheets produced by severe plastic deformation (SPD) are considered. SPD in form of a large pre-strain was imposed to aluminum sheets through the constrained groove pressing (CGP) process. Furthermore, CGPed specimens are joined using the resistance spot welding (RSW) method. Welding time and force are maintained evenly. Welding current is raised until ideal failure mode is observed. Finally, mechanical properties of fusion zone, heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal of welded SPDed specimens are derived. The results show that by increasing the pre-strain in specimens, an improvement in yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, load carrying capacity, maximum displacement before failure and nugget diameter is observed. Furthermore, sensitivity of these parameters to CGP pass number is considered. Finally, it has been shown that fusion zone and HAZ hardness values can increase by increasing the CGP pass number.

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The aim of the study was to examine the deformation modes and also degradation of an adhesively bonded rectangular cross section beam used in the automotive body structure. The study included: (1) performing new experimental investigations on the three-point bend behavior of a rectangular cross section beam made by adhesive bonding method. (2) developing a finite element (FE) model to predict the mechanical load displacement behavior and also the degradation modes (i.e. delamination between the adhesive layer and beam wall). The agreement between experimental and FE results demonstrates that the investigated structural element's numerical model was created utilizing accurate assumptions. Finally, the effects of beam wall thickness and overlap length have been investigated in a parametric study using the validated FE model. It was shown that increasing the beam wall thickness resulted in delamination between the adhesive layer and beam wall.

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In the present study, different regimes of wall impingement in biodiesel spray were investigated in terms of emissions of diesel engines and performance and the best model for simulating the DI diesel engines fueled by biodiesel blends was presented. As shown by the findings, all aspects of wall impingement were considered in Walljet model, and it properly predicted the fuel droplet size generated by decomposition and penetration. Thus, it is possible to use it for simulating the biodiesel fuel spray atomization at varying engine operating conditions through the adjustment of the model constants.
 

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Thin-walled tubes can avoid the transition of injurious acceleration and excessive forces to the protected section and minimize the damage severity. They absorb energy under axial loading circumstances as crashworthiness structures. The present study deals with the investigation of the density effects of foam on the quasi-static loading response of foam filled and empty cylindrical tubes. To investigate energy absorption parameters by varying in foam density, two different densities of polyurethane foam were used to evaluate the efficacy of polyurethane foam density under axial quasi-static loading. According to the results, the use of foam as a filler also influences the tubes’ deformation behavior in addition to the effects of thickness. It was revealed that by incrementing the thickness to 20%, the peak load increased by 25.2%. Two densities of foam were considered as 40 and 85kg/m3 to assess the effect of density of polyurethane foam as filler on the energy absorption behavior of tubes under axial loading. Result showed that when foam density increased by about two times, the peak load increased by 1%. According to the results, filling tube by foam also influences the tubes deformation behavior in addition to the effects of thickness

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The utilization of adhesively bonded square sections (ABSS) serves to enhance energy absorption and specific energy absorption (SEA) when subjected to oblique loading. Finite element models utilizing LS-DYNA were constructed in order to examine the deformation mode and load-displacement characteristics of ABSS and hybrid aluminum/carbon fiber reinforced polymer models. Subsequently, an evaluation was conducted on the general parameter pertaining to crashworthiness and the capacity for absorption of energy. The results reveal that an increase in the quantity of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) layers within the stacking sequence of [0,90] affords enhanced potential for energy absorption. Conversely, the stacking sequence of [90] exhibits an incongruity with this trend, and achieves superior energy absorption capacity with a count of 4 CFRP layers rather than 8.
The present study indicates that carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) possessing a stacking sequence of [90] exhibits superior energy absorption capacity under both axial and oblique loading conditions at an inclination angle of 10 degrees. In contrast, the use of eight layers of CFRP with a stacking sequence of [0, 90] is found to yield better performance in achieving both axial and oblique loading up to 10 degrees.
 

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Harnessing nanomaterials and the piezo-phototronic effect, we engineered a high-performance ultraviolet (UV) photodetector (PD), unveiling a new frontier in optoelectronics. This novel device seamlessly integrates zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) onto a flexible polyethylene terephthalate- indium tin oxide (PET-ITO) substrate through a straightforward and efficient hydrothermal process. This unique nanostructure design outshines its competitors, producing significantly higher current under UV illumination despite a comparable detection area. The plot thickens with the intriguing "piezo-phototronic effect," where applying pressure under UV light amplifies the current and overall device efficiency. This groundbreaking discovery paves the way for cutting-edge optoelectronic applications, where nanomaterials and the piezo-phototronic effect join forces to redefine performance.
 

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Due to the importance of vehicle weight reduction which can reduce fuel consumption and air pollution, changes are made in vehicles. In heavy trucks with payload limitations, a lighter trailer can provide higher load-carrying capacity and more economical benefits. Composite materials are a good candidate for material exchange due to their resistance to various conditions and low weight compared to steel. In this paper, the trailer material made of steel will be replaced by composite so that strength density will remain the same. For this purpose, the finite element method is used for static and dynamic analyses. At first, the model of a two-axle trailer is developed using SolidWorks software. Then, using standard loading and failure theories (Tsai-Hill, Tsai-Wu), the number of composite layers and their suitable angles are selected for the chassis. Finally, the loaded trailer's static, modal, and dynamic analysis are performed using the finite element method with a composite material. Results show that 17 layers of polymer composite with glass fibers with 0-0 angle can reduce 17.7 percent weight.

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The corrugated composite plates have wide application to improve the energy absorption and failure behavior of panel structures. The roof panel of the bus could benefit from the use of these structures to reduce impact failures in rollover accidents. The aim of this paper is to design a new configuration of bus roof panels stiffened with multi-layer semi-circular corrugated CFRP plates to minimize structure failure during rollover accidents. An analytical failure equation of Tsai-Hill index for the new proposed panel subjected to dynamic impact loading has been derived. The failure equation was validated using FEM methods and digital image correlation impact tests. According to the roll over impact situation, the multi-layered semi-circular corrugated woven CFRP roof panel displays a positive failure behavior of 89%.
 

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In this paper, the strength of the gear shifting blocker for Peugeot gearbox is investigated. A hardened steel sheet is used inside the plastic part of shifting blocker to strengthen it. According to the feedback from the customer that this part fails in some conditions, some suggestions for its improvement are presented. In this research, two proposed correction designs are presented to increase the strength of the gear shifting locker by changing on the considered steel sheet. Abaqus software has been used to model the gear shifting blocker and analyze the stress of parts by finite element method. In order to validate the analytical results and choose the proper proposed design to strengthen the blocker part, some experimental tests are performed on the tension-compression test device. By comparing the results of the numerical analysis, it can be observed that the first and second modification designs have improved the stresses of blocker plastic part by 18% and 45%, respectively.

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In the automobile sector, stainless steel and resistance spot welding (RSW) are often used. In this work, RSW was used to join five samples of 316L stainless steel joints at currents of 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 kA while the heat input parameters varied. The welded joints' microstructure, hardness, and mechanical properties were examined and evaluated. The base metal, heat-affected zone (HAZ), and weld areas' microstructures were all examined using optical microscopy. The mechanical characteristics of the joints were assessed using room-temperature tensile-shear testing and hardness testing. The microstructure findings revealed ferrite in many weld regions and an austenitic structure overall. In the samples with welding currents of 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 kA, the average hardness of the weld zone was 329, 258, 251, 238, and 235 Vickers, in that order. The hardness of the weld zone exhibited an inverse connection with the welding current, as an increase in welding current resulted in a drop in the resistance spot welded area's hardness. Furthermore, when heat input increased, the hardness of the HAZ reduced and increased relative to the 316L steel. The joint strength of the RSW increased with increasing welding current, as demonstrated by the tensile-shear test results for all five welded samples with varying currents. As a result, the samples with 30 and 35 kA currents failed at the weld with a force greater than 3 kN, while the other samples with lower welding currents had a failure force of less than 2 kN.