Regular Article

Methodology to assess fracture during crash simulation: fracture strain criteria and their calibration

¹ ArcelorMittal Maizières Research SA, Voie Romaine, BP30320, 57283 Maizières-les-Metz, France
² ArcelorMittal, Automotive Products Development, 17 avenue des tilleuls, 57190 Florange, France

^* e-mail: pascal.dietsch@arcelormittal.com

Received: 10 June 2016
Received in final form: 4 November 2016
Accepted: 9 November 2016

Abstract

The use of Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) has greatly increased this last decade in the automotive industry. Because of their crash performance and their weight saving potential, these grades constitute a possible solution to achieve the safety and environmental regulations objectives. Nevertheless, the increase of tensile strength of these materials is generally associated with a loss of ductility compared to conventional steels. Thus, the prediction of their failure in crash loading conditions become of great importance for the design of vehicles. This paper proposes to calibrate for any AHSS, as Dual-Phase or Press Hardened Steels, different failure criteria, available in finite element software. First, specific tests and methodologies for strain measurement needed for models calibration are exposed. Second, an overview of these tested models and the procedure applied to take into account mesh dependency are provided. Finally, simulations results are compared with experiment on a real automotive component.