Energy analysis of a non-linear dynamic impact using FEM

In the car industry, the Finite Element Method (FEM) is being more and more used to analyze the crashworthiness performance of vehicles. In order to validate the results, these impact simulations are normally compared with real crash footage and acceleration data. This paper studies the deformation- and energy output of a simple dummy model during a non-linear dynamic impact. The dummy model is crashed into an obstacle at three different velocities to observe the energy dissipated through different damping mechanisms. Furthermore, in impact simulations, material damping plays an important role in energy dissipation. However, it can be difficult to determine realistic damping parameter values, and they almost certainly need to be verified through experiments. For further work, these results will be used to validate and calibrate an impact simulation of a dummy model attached to a notch impact equipment.