Numerical investigation of usage of patterned collapsible energy absorbers in steering column of an automotive vehicle

Collapsible energy absorbers are encouraged in the field of automotive in the past decade due to their good energy absorption characteristics. Impact energy absorbers dissipates maximum amount of energy during an axial impact. Impact of steering wheel with ribs of driver during an accident is an area of prime concern. A patterned steering column is proposed in the present work which turns into inverting tube and absorb good amount of energy during an accident. The inversion process is induced in steering column by embedding sinusoidal patterns over it. This process is numerically investigated by using commercially available non-linear solver LS-DYNA (TM). Different steering column arrangements are studied and force-displacement results are analyzed in this work. A study is performed to investigate and compare energy absorption parameters of conventional and proposed design of steering column. The results show that the energy absorption with proposed sinusoidaly patterned steering column is better than conventional steering column.