Numerical Methodology to Simulate Passive Safety Posts Made of Composite

This study is aimed at developing a methodology that makes use of the finite elements method for a vehicle crash as well as a reconstruction of the physical behavior of the passive safety structures made of composite materials used, given the difficulty and expense involved in full-scale crash testing. In particular, this methodology has been applied for a post that must break away when submitted to medium and higher velocities presenting null or low energy absorption. However, in the case of a lower velocity it presents high energy absorption capabilities. The main conclusion of this study is that the simulation methodology by means of the finite elements models allows us to analyze and compare the behavior of the vehicles when they impact against the support structures made out of composite materials, evaluating both a vehicle´s cinematic and dynamic behavior, while also obtaining the biomechanical indexes for measuring the severity of the crash, all this with a high degree of correlation. The main novelty of this methodology is that possibilities to analyze composite support structures in roads rapidly and effectively at a lower cost, both in terms of materials used on the prototypes and time spent. For this purpose, all of the main parameters of the numerical simulation have been optimized: materials, material models, failure criterion, contacts, topology of the mesh, etc.