Bumper Beam Ribs for Buckling Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Bumper beams face challenges in balancing resistance to peak effort, energy absorption, and resistance to breaking during impacts, with bending leading to buckling issues that complicate integration with surrounding components due to the geometry of planar surfaces.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating transversally extending ribs into the rear and upper/lower walls of the bumper beam, which reduces the height of planar surfaces, thereby increasing the effort required for buckling and improving resistance to breaking and peak efforts by creating additional deformation patterns, while avoiding buckling through controlled curvature and rib placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the bumper beam is bent in the transversal direction to obtain a curved shape adapted to vehicle geometry, then the bumper beam becomes more adapted to the geometry of the vehicle, but the rear walls with large planar surfaces buckle and create waves that exceed acceptable manufacturing tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The rear wall is segmented by adding transverse ribs that divide the large planar surface into smaller panels. This segmentation prevents buckling during bending by reducing the span of each panel, allowing the bumper beam to be curved while maintaining surface flatness within tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
Ribs are added in the transverse dimension (perpendicular to the bending direction) to provide structural support during curvature formation. These ribs create a three-dimensional reinforcement pattern that resists buckling while allowing the overall beam to achieve the required curved shape.
2Strength
If the resistance of the bumper beam is increased by modifying the geometry or increasing tensile strength, then the bumper beam can resist greater peak effort, but the bumper beam becomes less deformable and more likely to break before reaching the predetermined deformation distance
Solution Approach 1:
The beam cross-section is segmented into multiple walls (front wall, rear wall, upper wall, lower wall) connected by ribs. This segmentation creates multiple deformation zones that can absorb energy through progressive deformation, allowing the beam to maintain high strength while achieving the required deformation distance without breaking.
Solution Approach 2:
Ribs with curved cross-sections are incorporated into the beam structure. These curved features create progressive deformation patterns during impact, allowing the beam to absorb energy through controlled buckling and deformation of the rib structures while maintaining overall structural integrity and resistance to breaking.
Data Source
AI summary
A bumper beam is made of at least one rolled formed steel sheet containing an upper beam and a lower beam extending in a transversal direction, the upper beam and the lower beam each having a closed cross-section defined by a front wall, a rear wall, an upper wall and a lower wall, the upper wall and the lower wall joining the front wall to the rear wall, each of the front walls of the upper beam and of the lower beam containing a front rib extending transversally and towards the interior of the bumper beam. At least one of the upper wall of the upper beam, the lower wall of the lower beam, the rear wall of the upper beam and the rear wall of the lower beam further containing a rib extending transversally and towards the interior of the bumper beam.