The numerical simulation of structural parts made from polymers is becoming increasingly important. Although highly sophisticated material laws are available in commercial finite element programs, there are still open questions, especially for crashworthiness analysis. In this paper, we restrict our attention to the explicit solver of LS-DYNA, see [1] and [2]. However, the results are transfera...

This paper addresses parallel programming paradigms for nonlinear, explicit finite element simulations primarily employed for crashworthiness and occupant safety simulations in the automotive industry. The reliance of industrial design on computer simulation and state-of-the-art high performance computing architectures will be discussed as a motivation for the need for parallel implementations ...

Abstract Topology optimization methods like the homogenization method are very efficient for statically and dynamically loaded structures, but the use of these methods for the topology optimization of crashworthiness structures runs into a lot of problems. Especially in structural contact problems, the optimization functions are not smooth and the use of local sensitivity information is not suc...

Advancements in high-performance computing and in nonlinear dynamic structural simulation have made it possible to virtually test potential designs prior to building and testing expensive prototypes. These tools alone, however, still require an engineer to develop a design based on intuition and numerous time-consuming and error-prone iterations. The next level of advancement is software to aut...

Broadcasts of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety high-speed automotive crash tests on NBC’s Dateline do not affect either market shares or stock prices. However, injury claims within a market class are highly correlated with crash test ratings. Inattention to the tests may be a consequence of the manner in which the crash tests have been presented and because the crashworthiness of the U.S....