Weight optimization of an automobile bumper

Abstract

Sandwich panels or corrugated sheets are gaining more popularity in the applications of aerospace, marine and automobile industries due to their better strength to weight ratio over monolithic plates. Various researchers carried out lot of work on different topologies of corrugated sheets in the areas of impact response, dynamic response, numerical simulation on mechanical behaviour and bending behaviour of the sandwich plates. This paper deliberates comparison of monolithic steel plate passenger bus bumper and proposed corrugated sheet steel bumper of trapezoidal section. The analysis shows that there is an appreciable reduction in weight with the trapezoidal section and also better mechanical strength.