The Effect of Using Composite Materials and Sandwich Structures in Car Body on Pedestrian Safety in Urban Traffic

In this study, the effect of hood skin material (steel and carbon/epoxy composite), as well as effect of adding a foam core between the outer skin and inner support of the hood is investigated. In models made of composite, results of four stacking sequences of [0]8, [90]8, [0/90/0/90]s and [-45/0/45/90]s are compared. It was seen that using composite decreases the HIC value with respect to steel. Moreover, [0]8 and [90]8 stacking sequences have the minimum and maximum HIC values among all the stacking sequences. Studying the sandwich hoods showed that small values of foam thickness decrease the HIC value significantly with respect to cases without foam core, but at a larger foam thickness, the HIC value has a sharp increase.