P. Drazetic et al., APPLICATION OF KINEMATIC MODELS TO COMPRESSION AND BENDING IN SIMPLIFIED CRASH CALCULATIONS, International journal of mechanical sciences, 35(3-4), 1993, pp. 179-191
The growing complexity of transport vehicles requires huge finite elem
ent models to simulate their crash behaviour. The structure cannot be
effectively optimized by means of these models which require long calc
ulation times. and which should only be used as a final verifying tool
. Distinct kinematic models have been developed in order to determine
analytically the resistance to collapse of thin-walled structures of s
imple geometry subjected to compression or bending loading. Using an e
xample of an ''S'' frame undergoing a collision against a rigid block,
four modelling tools were tested. After comparison between the experi
mental test results and the numerical calculations, the ''compression-
bending'' kinematic model appears to be a promising tool for rapid est
imates of crash behaviour of simple structures.