Numerical Evaluation of Hot Formed B-Pillar

Abstract

Side impact intrusion test is important to ensure the safety of the occupant when the vehicle is hit on the side by other vehicle. When this occurs, most of the energy will be absorbed by a structural part called B-pillar. Therefore the most important characteristic of this automotive part is crashworthiness. Hot formed B-Pillar has many advantages over conventional design in terms of higher strength to weight ratio. In this study four types of hot formed B-Pillar designs namely Patchwork blank (PWB), Monolithic blank (MB), Tailor welded blank (TWB) and Tailor Rolled Blank (TRW) were evaluated by numerical simulation according to IHSS side impact test set up. For each design, maximum displacement or intrusion and energy absorption were measured. The results show that the intrusions of all four designs are within the safe region. However the Patchwork blank design is able to absorb more impact energy compared to the other three types of B-pillar.