Packaging and Crashworthiness of power train

For improved frontal car safety it is necessary to design a structure that absorbs enough energy
in a realistic crash situation. To protect the occupants, the passenger compartment should not
be deformed and intrusion must be avoided too. To prevent excessive deceleration levels, the
available deformation distance in front of the passenger compartment must be used
completely for a predetermined crash velocity.

The stiff parts in the frontal structure of a car are the two main longitudinal members and the
engine (possibly combined with the front wheel suspension). They are responsible for
absorbing large amounts of energy during a crash. A typical longitudinal member that collapses
in a regular pattern can absorb about 25 per cent of the impact energy. If, in addition, the
engine is forced to decelerate very rapidly and high forces originating from the engine deform
the stiff firewall, about half of the impact energy will be absorbed by the remaining front
structure. However it should be noted that this is only true in the case of a collision against a
rigid wall, a special situation in which very high load forces can be directed into the stiff parts of
the car structure. In the case of a deformable barrier, the barrier will generally not be capable
of generating such high loads. Hence, the stiff parts cannot deform from the very start of the
impact. This results in large deformations in the supple parts of the structure. Consequently the
front structure will absorb less energy. This leads to intrusion and deformation of the passenger
compartment. Adjoining figure shows a rough estimation of energy absorption distributed on
the frontal structure during a crash with 56 km/h against a rigid barrier.

Fig.1. Estimated energy absorption in frontal structure

The overlap percentage determines which parts of the frontal structure of the car are hit and
contribute to the energy absorption. In case of a full overlap against a rigid wall, the two stiff
longitudinal members and the motion of the engine can absorb most of the energy. During
the first half of the crash duration, mainly the longitudinal members will be loaded. In the
second half, the engine will be loaded as well. In crashes with partial overlap percentages of
70 per cent and lower, not all available stiff structures are used for energy absorption.

Frontal overlap percentage stiff parts in the part of total part of total
structure energy energy
absorption absorption
first half of crash second half of
duration crash duration
70 - 100% 2 longitudinal + ≈ 50 % ≈ 50 %
surrounding
structure +
engine / firewall
40 - 70% 1 longitudinal + ≈ 25 % ≈ 35 %
surrounding
structure +
engine / firewall
30 - 40% 1 longitudinal + ≈ 25 % ≈ 15 %
surrounding
structure

Table 1.Relative energy absorption for several frontal crash overlaps against a rigid wall

Studies and researches has shown that in a car to car crash the frontal overlap percentages are
even higher, because of the reason that the car front has a non-uniform stiffness distribution,
up to an overlap percentage of 50 per cent only one longitudinal member is absorbing energy,
while the second member and the engine are not involved.

A crash against a stiff pole can be regarded as a crash with a small overlap against a rigid wall,
as only one stiff part e.g. one of the longitudinal members or the engine will be hit.
Fig. 1Estimated energy absorption percentages during a frontal collision