Keep the Material Model Simple with Input from Elements that Predict the Correct Deformation Mode

The 64 km/h frontal offset test is run with a deformable barrier, and the first numerical model of this barrier was made with solid elements to represent the honeycomb blocks. However this required development of a special element formulation to handle the severe deformation of the solid elements together with a special material model that could be calibrated to handle the extreme anisotropy. It is herein important to notice the amount of work, the uncertainties with the test specimens and the test procedure to get a proper representation of the honeycomb material. It was therefore suggested to represent the barrier geometry with shell elements that were able to capture deformation mode with local and global buckling of the honeycomb structure together with a simple model to represent the material in the 0.076 mm thick aluminium foil. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the same idea can be used to predict cracks when crushing a two chamber aluminium profile.