Toward lightweight smart automotive hood structures for head impact mitigation: Integration of active stiffness control composites

Abstract

Recently, novel material concepts for high-performance carbon fiber–reinforced composites with active stiffness control were presented in the literature. Although this new class of intelligent, smart, and responsive materials has wide application potential, actual design concepts using active stiffness control are still rare. The integration of smart materials into conventional products often requires radically new design concepts. This communication presents an innovative automotive hood design concept, which integrates active stiffness control composites in order to achieve improved design performance trade-offs in terms of structural weight reduction and vulnerable road user safety. The integration of active stiffness control composites in the hood structure aims to enable active stiffness reduction of the hood or bonnet structure in order to reduce head impact injuries in case of a collision, while satisfying the structural stiffness requirements and lightweight objectives under normal operating conditions. The design concept is investigated using simulation-based evaluation of static, dynamic, and lightweight design criteria. The results are promising, and the presented concept design is a step toward the realization of lightweight smart hood structures for head impact mitigation. Several design features could also be of interest for the integration of active stiffness control composites, in other applications.