Experimental analysis of bending and axial crush behaviour of single hat longitudinal rail

Abstract

This paper deals with experimental investigations of single hat longitudinal rail under quasi-static crush loading. A set of identical specimen which was simplified from actual automotive longitudinal rail was fabricated, and quasi-static testing (i.e., compression and bending test) were conducted. The main objective of this research was to study the failure mode, bending and tensile behaviour of the structure under bending and axial compression. In order to get the compressive load-displacement response and its corresponding deformation pattern, the compression test was carried out using a Universal Testing Machine. Stress-strain curve and energy absorption of the specimen were derived from the compressive load-displacement response. It was found that the quasi-static response of the specimen in compression case was affected by the number and position of spot welds. For the bending test, the bending load was found to be fluctuated with the displacement in a way analogous to the folding behaviour and deformation of the cross-section of the specimen. Bending moment-rotation characteristic was derived from bending load-displacement curve to investigate the energy absorption of the specimen in bending case. Lastly, the von Mises stress at the top and bottom surface of the specimen is increased with increment of the punch head travel distance.