Crashworthiness analysis of a minibus body in white through reverse engineering

To investigate the crashworthiness of a minibus body in white (BIW) and create a digital model for further analysis and improvement, the crash behavior of the BIW was quantitatively analyzed using reverse engineering. Each part of the BIW was identified and digitalized to conduct a finite element model. A frontal crash was simulated numerically using the explicit finite element analysis software LS-DYNA. BIW crash tests were conducted to validate the finite element model. The computational results agree well with the test data, not only for the collapse mode, but also in the force-time and acceleration-time correlation curves. The methods used to create the finite element model can be used to further improve or develop safer vehicles.