Experimental and numerical investigation on bending strength of the vehicle bumper beam with internal stiffeners

The bumper beams mounted on the front or rear of the vehicles should act as an energy absorber in slight collisions and prevent the other parts to be damaged. In most crashes the bumper beam deforms in bending mode, so strengthening this hollow thin walled structure with internal stiffeners (ribs) against this type of loading is the aim of this study. Several aluminum beams with rectangular cross-section and different types of stiffeners were fabricated and tested under quasi static three-point bending loads. The peak and average bending force and the energy absorption capacity were the parameters that measured during the tests and used to evaluate the flexural properties of the beams. The results indicate that the beam with a vertical and two oblique ribs had the most resistance to bending and also absorbed more energy than others. Also, numerical simulation of the tests was carried out using LS-DYNA software.