Early phase modeling of frontal impacts for crashworthiness: From lumped mass–spring models to Deformation Space Models

Because of the drawbacks of standard lumped mass–spring models discussed at the beginning of this paper, a new approach for simplified modeling of frontal impacts appropriate for early phase crashworthiness design is proposed. It is based on a first step, the Geometry Space Model, representing the real location of the structural components with deformable, non-deformable, and gap parts. This is then transformed by a new algorithm into the Deformation Space Model which considers only the available free deformation lengths and can be used to assess the correct deformation modes of complex structural systems. These developments are embedded in a wider research field, already published, where Solution Spaces are established for set-based design of the force–displacement curves for all springs. Together with this Solution Space technology, the proposed new simplified modeling approach for frontal impacts will make early phase development more efficient in the future.