Design of a Light Semi-Trailer Rear Bumper for Impact Protection According to 79/490/CEE Directive

In this paper, a new concept of rear bumper for semi trailer has been developed by means of numerical simulation. A semi trailer bumper is a substructure that has a great importance in the whole vehicle. It reduces the effect of a crash impact against another vehicle in the rear part of the semi trailer. Thus, both the vehicle and passengers are protected from impact effects. The design of this kind of structures must show suitable behavior depending upon crash conditions and structure conditions (bumper material, load cases, boundary conditions, impact velocity[[ellipsis]]). In this study case, 79/490/CEE Directive shows the specific conditions that must be complied by a rear protective device to be approved by an official certifying body. The bumper design has been carried out by means of numerical simulation tools based on the Finite Element Method (FEM). This method provides results in terms of strain and stress of the analyzed structures, subjected to several load cases, boundary conditions, and considering several materials. A new light aluminum bumper structure fulfilling the previous directive is obtained. Finally, a light bumper prototype has been developed based on the previous numerical results and it has been tested according to the homologation conditions specified in 79/490/CEE Directive. Nowadays, Lecitrailer S.A., a Spanish semi trailers manufacturer, has incorporated this new bumper structure to their vehicles.Copyright © 2007 by ASME