Crash Simulation of an F 1 Racing Car Front Impact Structure

Formula 1 motorsport is a platform for maximum race car driving performance resulting from high-tech developments in the area of lightweight materials and aerodynamic design. In order to ensure the driver’s safety in case of high-speed crashes, special impact structures are designed to absorb the race car’s kinetic energy and limit the decelerations acting on the human body. These energy absorbing structures are made of laminated composite sandwich materials like the whole monocoque chassis and have to meet defined crash test requirements specified by the FIA. This study covers the crash behaviour of the nose cone as the F1 racing car front impact structure. Finite element models for dynamic simulations with the explicit solver LS-DYNA are developed with the emphasis on the composite material modelling. Numerical results are compared to crash test data in terms of deceleration levels, absorbed energy and crushing mechanisms. The validation led to satisfying results and the overall conclusion that dynamic simulations with LS-DYNA can be a helpful tool in the design phase of an F1 racing car front impact structure.

[1]  F. Chang,et al.  A Progressive Damage Model for Laminated Composites Containing Stress Concentrations , 1987 .

[2]  Hicham Hussein. El-Hage.  A numerical study on the quasi-static axial crush characteristics of square aluminium and aluminium-composite hybrid tubes. , 2004 .

[3]  Chiara Bisagni,et al.  Progressive crushing of fiber-reinforced composite structural components of a Formula One racing car , 2005 .

[4]  T. D. Williams,et al.  The Prediction of Frontal Impact Crashworthiness of a Spaceframe Sportscar , 1999 .

[5]  Matthias Hörmann.  Simulation of the Crash Performance of Crash Boxes based on Advanced Thermoplastic Composite , 2005 .

[6]  Peter Middendorf,et al.  Strain rate effects in phenolic composites and phenolic-impregnated honeycomb structures , 2007 .

[7]  A. J. Lamb.  Experimental investigation and numerical modelling of composite-honeycomb materials used in Formula 1 crash structures , 2007 .

[8]  Peter Wriggers,et al.  Nonlinear Computational Mechanics: State of the Art , 1991 .

[9]  Dimitrios E. Manolakos,et al.  The static and dynamic axial collapse of CFRP square tubes : Finite element modelling , 2006 .

[10]  Butler,et al.  The application of finite element analysis to composite racing car chassis design , 1999 .

[11]  B. O’rourke,et al.  The Uses of Composite Materials in the Design and Manufacture of Formula 1 Racing Cars , 1990 .

[12]  G. Savage.  Composite materials in formula 1 racing , 1991 .

[13]  P. Feraboli,et al.  Design and certification of a composite thin-walled structure for energy absorption , 2007 .

[14]  A N Mellor,et al.  Impact testing in Formula One , 2002 .

[15]  G Savage,et al.  Exploiting the fracture properties of carbon fibre composites to design lightweight energy absorbing structures , 2004 .

[16]  Peter Wright,et al.  Formula 1 Technology , 2001 .