Abstract
The current trend in the automobile industry is to use composite materials, which are lightweight and non-corrosive to atmospheric conditions. The present work explores the feasibility of using a pultruded composite structure for the Rear Under run Protection Device (RUPD) of a truck. Numerical simulations have been performed for analysing the impact behaviour of the RUPD which is made of composite. Impact simulations are carried out for moderately high velocity impacts of 20 km/h and 40 km/h. The impact energy absorption, peak reaction loads and displacements are compared for different pultruded composites. Results indicate that RUPD structure consisting of carbon-epoxy bidirectional mat at outer layers and unidirectional mat as inner core layer provides more specific energy absorption and less reaction loads. The simulation results presented in this study will provide guidelines for designing the composite RUPD structure.
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