Crashworthiness Analysis of a Shell Eco-Marathon Prototype Car

Abstract

Vehiclesare designed such that they can absorb some level of energy on impact to protect its occupant from injury or death. Thus, the need for a crashworthiness test. This paper describes the crashworthiness analysis of a Shell Eco-Marathon Prototypecar. The analysis was carried out on the vehicle body, roll bar, and the crumple zone to determine the level of deformation during vertical and horizontal impact on the vehicle, thereby indicating the level of safety of the vehicle upon various degrees of impact. SolidWorks and ANSYS software were used to design the car and simulate the vertical and horizontal impact on the body and the roll bar. Results indicate that the design was strong enough to withstand the applied load, as stated in the rules of the competition. It also showed that the deformation experienced by the car upon impact is significantly low to cause any harm to the driver.