Design Analysis and Optimization of Front Underrun Protection Device

Abstract: Under-running of passenger vehicle is one of the major parameters to be considered during the design and development of truck chassis. Front Under-run Protection Device (FUPD) plays an important role in avoiding under-running of vehicles from front side of a truck. This thesis is used to develop additional device which stops the impact from frontal area, which will not allow the passenger car inside the truck. The complete thesis was started from an idea of adding FUPD to truck chassis. Design of FUPD is done using 3D CAD software CATIA V5R20, then complete FUPD assembly is imported and done pre-processing using Altair Hyper Mesh, for visualizing the results. Crash analysis is done using Altair Radioss & results interpretation is done using HyperView and Hypergraph. FUPD is designed based on ECE R93 which satisfies the failure criteria (Standard) of displacement less than 400 mm. An Initial Design is generated along with Holding Brackets as an assembly using CATIA V5 as a tool. Base design is further optimized for getting light weight structure that meets structural performance criteria. By assuming all the loading conditions as per the standards, an amount of 27% mass reduction is obtained in FUPD Assembly along with holding bracket.