Bionic Design And Simulation Analysis Of Energy-absorbing Bumpers Based On Horn Structure

Lightweight design is the development trend of the automotive industry, andsafety performance is the premise and guarantee for the lightweight design, whichmust be considered. The bumper is the main energy absorption component ofvehicle collision. Optimization design of bumper energy-absorbing characteristic isvery important to improve the passive safety performance in the premise oflightweight.Through similarity analysis, the study regards the horns, which has goodmechanical properties in the nature, as the biological prototype. A series ofmechanical tests were performed by the tension-compression test machine andpendulum impact test machine. Results showed that cattle horn is a gradedbiological material with outstanding mechanical characteristic. The ultimate tensilestrength of the keratin shell diminished gradually from distal to middle to proximalparts. The ultimate compressive strength of keratin shell and bone core in thelongitudinal direction was higher than that in the transverse. The moisture could cutdown significantly the mechanical characteristics of keratin shell and bone core. Theshock toughness of the keratin shell was4.9J/cm2, which was7times as large asthat of the bone core.The microstructures of the keratin shell and bone core were examined byscanning electron microscopy. Results showed that the keratin shell was a laminatedstructure stacked by keratin protein slices, and the bone core was a light-weightporous material with pores randomly distributed in the longitudinal direction. theStudy designed a bionic tube having feature structures of horns based on the bionicstheory of the structure. The deformation mode of the bionic tube is asymptotictelescoping deformation. The specific energy absorption of bionic tube is37.6kJ/kg,which is increased90%and144%compared with four cell tube and Circular tube.The specific energy absorption of bionic tube was13.7kJ/kg, which was increased 86%and144%compared with four cell tube and Circular tube when the collisionhappened in the transverse.Applying the reverse engineering technology to extract the bending curve of thehorn, and turn it into the bionic factors of bumper beam to design a bionic bumperbeam with horns curve characteristics. When the collision happens in longitudinaldirection, the specific energy absorption of bionic bumper beam is6.7KJ/kg, which isincreased1.1times compared with the traditional beam. The study designed a kind ofbionic bumper based on the bionic tube and the bionic beam. The specific energyabsorption of bionic bumper is16.2KJ/kg, which is increased2.6times compared withthe traditional bumper.Applying the feature structures of the horn to the design of bumper caneffectively improve the crashworthiness performance of the bumper based on thestructural bionics design method, which provides a reference for the research ofVehicle passive safety.