Modular multi-material crash box for tailored impact energy absorption

Current high-end vehicles use non-modular multi-material crash boxes. The crash structure developed in PROTECT designs modular crash boxes for enhanced tailored energy absorption for low, medium and high-speed collisions.

Protect is an innovative crash structure compromised of multi-material crash boxes and aluminium or natural fibre reinforced bumper. The designed crash structure provides low peak acceleration, controlled and enhanced energy absorption capability to reduce the damage to the vehicle and its occupants.

The designed crash box is modular that can be removed and replaced after impact, also it is cost-effective and sustainable.

The automotive industry is growing rapidly, leading to higher standards concerning the sustainability and safety of the vehicles. The new regulation regarding safer and more environmentally friendly vehicles has forced companies to replace conventional metallic structures with advanced composite structures.

Energy absorbers are one of the applications of composite structures. They were first introduced in vehicles in form of the crash boxes to absorb the energy from impact and increase the passenger’s safety. These crash boxes were traditionally manufactured from steel; however, they are being replaced with crash boxes manufactured from Aluminium and fibre-reinforced composite polymers.

Low-speed (20mph) accidents saw a year-on-year increase of 31% (2016-2017, Department of Transport); injury increase was broken down as fatal (+79%), Serious (+47%), and slight (+42%). A crash box is a thin-walled structure attached between the vehicle bumper structure and the side rail to improve crash performance in low-speed accidents. The determination of the crash box geometry is important to absorb the impact energy since the installation space of the crash box is not very large. Conventional crash boxes (i.e. those manufactured from steel or aluminium) exhibit high peak force and have no way of controlling the rate of deceleration following a crash. Composite alternatives are limited in use due to unpredictable failure.

The regulation (EU) 2019/631 of the European Council and Parliament set a target of 95g CO2/Km by 2020 and stricter targets onward to achieve less than 60g CO2/Km by 2030. This indicates that the purpose of using composites is not just to achieve a lower weight and higher performance but also to reduce the carbon footprint of the vehicle in different stages.

PROTECT is an innovative new crash box with better impact energy-absorption capabilities; enabling minimal damage to the vehicle itself, its occupants, and other road users. In the event of a low-speed collision, PROTECT will help to reduce damage to the vehicle, its occupants and the wider public. This will result in safer roads and vehicles, along with minimised repair costs. As a result of our innovative solution, the consortium partners expect to create 227 jobs and generate cumulative revenues of £ 51.6 million by 2029.

The outcomes of our research can be applied to:

• Design and development of multi-material crash structure (including crash boxes and bumper) for low, medium and high-speed collisions
• Developing a methodology to design crash structure for any vehicle
• Design and development of a modular crash structure
• Design and development of a sustainable crash structure

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Dr Nithin Jayasree - Nithin is a Team Leader at the Brunel Composites Centre (BCC). He is currently leading the composite modelling and testing team at BCC and his work includes multiscale modelling of materials including composites, CFD, materials research, and composite processing including thermoset infusion & RTM. He is working in multiple Innovate UK, Horizon 2020 and Cleansky projects.   He completed his PhD at the Politechnico di Torino, Italy in 2017 on process simulations of thermoplastic composite materials. 

Dr. Sadik Omairey - Sadik is a Senior Research Fellow at Brunel Composites Centre (BCC), a joint venture between Brunel University London and The Welding Institution (TWI) since June 2019. He is currently the technical lead and support for three collaborative projects that involve industrial and academic partners in automotive crash structures design, assembly of an all-composites aircraft fuselage, and thermoplastic additive manufacturing. Besides, Sadik often represents BCC at academic and non-academic conferences and meetings, proposals writings, dissemination, and research papers. While having other duties such as postgraduate students training. Most recently, Sadik achieved PRINCE2® Foundation Project Management certification. Before joining BCC, he was awarded an Elphinstone scholarship from the University of Aberdeen to study a PhD in the reliability and optimisation of composite materials. In 2018, he was recognised as a Chartered Engineer, a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (CEng MIMechE), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Earlier, Sadik completed an MSc degree at the University of South Wales, which was a fully funded scholarship. Whereas his experience includes industrial positions (oil and gas, and construction). In 2018, Sadik developed EasyPBC tool for homogenisation of composites and hybrid materials. For more details on EasyPBC please visit project's page on ResearchGate from here.

Vasiliki Loukodimou - Vasiliki is a Research Fellow at Brunel Composites Centre. Her main interests lie within the areas of composite manufacturing, material characterisation and composite modelling.

Hesam Badri - Research fellow at Brunel Composite Centre with expertise in multiscale modelling and characterisation of materials including composites, materials research, composite processing, crashworthiness analysis and nanoparticle sizing of composites.

Related Research Group(s)

Brunel Composites Centre - Shared research and technology capabilities, specialising in novel composites processing and joining technologies applied to industrial environments.

Project last modified 12/09/2024