PAM-CRASH
Encyclopedia
PAM-CRASH is a software package from ESI Group used for crash simulation
and the design of occupant safety systems, primarily in the automotive industry. PAM-CRASH enables automotive engineers to simulate the performance of a proposed vehicle design and evaluate the potential for injury to vehicle occupants in various crash scenarios. Automobile manufacturers typically simulate multiple alternative designs during the product development process in order to improve the crashworthiness of the vehicle.
) in Stuttgart. German automobile manufacturers took note and tested the applicability of several emerging commercial crash simulation codes, including what would soon become PAM-CRASH. As part of this project, PAM-CRASH predecessor code simulated the frontal impact of a full passenger car structure in an overnight computer run. This was the first successful full-car crash simulation.
Based on Finite Element Method (FPM), PAM-CRASH enables the modeling of complex geometry by offering a large panel of structural and continuum elements: beams, shells, membranes and solids. In a typical vehicle crash simulation, shells are used to model thin-walled metal,plastic and composite components. Beams and bars may also be used for stiffening frames, suspensions and special connections. The program offers a large range of linear and nonlinear materials including elastic and visco-plastic and including foam materials and multi-layers composites up to damage and failure models.
PAM-CRASH was used in the first numerical simulation of a full vehicle rollover by BMW AG (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG). Finite element simulation provided accurate determination of the structural deformations while computationally economical rigid body simulation was used during the relatively unimportant deformation and free-flight phases of the simulation.
The software has been improved over the years. PAM-CRASH 2G, introduced in 2002, allows consideration of manufacturing effects during the design process by chaining the simulation of casting, stamping and composites forming processes to crash simulation.
PAM-CRASH has been successfully adapted for High Performance Computers use on massively parallel systems. One of the most time critical part of the parallel simulation is the contact handling. Results of measurements on a 128-processor machine demonstrated that a contact search algorithm leads to a better scalability.
Engineers utilize crash simulation not only to determine the end result of the crash but also to view the step by step time history. By viewing factors such as how the bumper is folded in the impact and what is the effect of rib thickness on body deformation in the initial stages of the simulation, engineers can often gain insights that help them improve the crashworthiness of the vehicle design.
Desktop Engineering magazine, in its review of ESI Group’s Virtual Performance Solution, which includes PAM-CRASH, said: “The Virtual Performance Solution embraces a lot of things, such as gold-standard tools like PAM-CRASH. But what it really provides you is an integrated simulation environment. That is what makes it so cool. And so does this: You work across multiple analysis domains with a single core model – not different models for every load case. This streamlines your workflow, saving time and money by reducing the number of individual solvers you have to deploy and all that model re-creation business.”
PAM-CRASH was dynamically coupled to the occupant safety program MADYMO
. The technique combines the advantages of the finite element method for the solution of dynamic problems with large structural deformations with value of validated occupant models. The study investigated the interaction of a Hybrid III
crash dummy and a passive restraint system consisting of an airbag and a kneebolster in a frontal impact situation. Good agreement with experimental data was obtained. However, due to the increased request on results accuracy and prediction, this is replaced by a full finite element simulation using FE dummy models. The increased computation resources needed were compensated by optimized architecture code and improved hardware performances.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina
and Mississippi State University
simulated various crash scenarios on a Chrysler Neon passenger vehicle using PAM-CRASH and another crash simulation code. The test data and simulation results correlated very well with only minor discrepancies in terms of overall impact deformation, component failure modes and velocity and acceleration at various locations on the vehicle.
PAM-CRASH was used to evaluate safety issues at the Beryl Bravo offshore platform in the North Sea which is operated by ExxonMobil
. ExxonMobil made the decision to upgrade existing fire barriers adjacent to the process and compression areas into blast walls that would be capable of containing an explosion in these areas without rupture and would provide a fire barrier. PAM-CRASH was used to perform numerical simulations of the dynamic response of the structure subjected to explosion scenarios. The PAM-CRASH computation models agreed with experimental results and were used to guide the process of designing the new blast walls.
PAM-CRASH is used by automobile manufacturers to improve their rankings in New Car Assessment Programs (NCAPs) that are intended to provide consumers with a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of competing automobile models. These programs include the Euro NCAP and Japan NCAP as well as a similar rating system provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA).
Crash simulation
A crash simulation is a virtual recreation of a destructive crash test of a car or a highway guard rail system using a computer simulation in order to examine the level of safety of the car and its occupants. Crash simulations are used by automakers during Computer-Aided Engineering analysis for...
and the design of occupant safety systems, primarily in the automotive industry. PAM-CRASH enables automotive engineers to simulate the performance of a proposed vehicle design and evaluate the potential for injury to vehicle occupants in various crash scenarios. Automobile manufacturers typically simulate multiple alternative designs during the product development process in order to improve the crashworthiness of the vehicle.
History
PAM-CRASH originated in research aimed at simulating aerospace and nuclear applications. On May 30, 1978 ESI Group simulated the accidental crash of a military fighter plane into a nuclear power plant in a meeting organized by VDI (Verein Deutscher IngenieureVerein Deutscher Ingenieure
Verein Deutscher Ingenieure is an organization of 139,000 engineers and natural scientists.Established in 1856, the VDI is today the largest engineering association in Western Europe....
) in Stuttgart. German automobile manufacturers took note and tested the applicability of several emerging commercial crash simulation codes, including what would soon become PAM-CRASH. As part of this project, PAM-CRASH predecessor code simulated the frontal impact of a full passenger car structure in an overnight computer run. This was the first successful full-car crash simulation.
Based on Finite Element Method (FPM), PAM-CRASH enables the modeling of complex geometry by offering a large panel of structural and continuum elements: beams, shells, membranes and solids. In a typical vehicle crash simulation, shells are used to model thin-walled metal,plastic and composite components. Beams and bars may also be used for stiffening frames, suspensions and special connections. The program offers a large range of linear and nonlinear materials including elastic and visco-plastic and including foam materials and multi-layers composites up to damage and failure models.
PAM-CRASH was used in the first numerical simulation of a full vehicle rollover by BMW AG (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG). Finite element simulation provided accurate determination of the structural deformations while computationally economical rigid body simulation was used during the relatively unimportant deformation and free-flight phases of the simulation.
The software has been improved over the years. PAM-CRASH 2G, introduced in 2002, allows consideration of manufacturing effects during the design process by chaining the simulation of casting, stamping and composites forming processes to crash simulation.
PAM-CRASH has been successfully adapted for High Performance Computers use on massively parallel systems. One of the most time critical part of the parallel simulation is the contact handling. Results of measurements on a 128-processor machine demonstrated that a contact search algorithm leads to a better scalability.
Engineers utilize crash simulation not only to determine the end result of the crash but also to view the step by step time history. By viewing factors such as how the bumper is folded in the impact and what is the effect of rib thickness on body deformation in the initial stages of the simulation, engineers can often gain insights that help them improve the crashworthiness of the vehicle design.
Desktop Engineering magazine, in its review of ESI Group’s Virtual Performance Solution, which includes PAM-CRASH, said: “The Virtual Performance Solution embraces a lot of things, such as gold-standard tools like PAM-CRASH. But what it really provides you is an integrated simulation environment. That is what makes it so cool. And so does this: You work across multiple analysis domains with a single core model – not different models for every load case. This streamlines your workflow, saving time and money by reducing the number of individual solvers you have to deploy and all that model re-creation business.”
Applications
PAM-CRASH was used to design a floor pan structure to meet torsion and bending stiffness requirements of a steel automotive floor pan while reducing its weight by 50% and the number of parts by 70%. The crashworthiness of the composite floor pan design was evaluated by reproducing the same loading and support conditions of the Euro NCAP pole side impact crash test. The numerical results were then compared against the experimental data from two crash tests.PAM-CRASH was dynamically coupled to the occupant safety program MADYMO
MADYMO
MADYMO stands for MAthematical DYnamic MOdels. It is a software package developed by TASS , headquartered in Rijswijk, the Netherlands. It a leading design & analysis software for occupant safety systems in the transport industry....
. The technique combines the advantages of the finite element method for the solution of dynamic problems with large structural deformations with value of validated occupant models. The study investigated the interaction of a Hybrid III
Hybrid III
This is a break-out article; for the main article, see Crash test dummyThe Hybrid III is the standard crash test dummy as of the beginning of the 21st century...
crash dummy and a passive restraint system consisting of an airbag and a kneebolster in a frontal impact situation. Good agreement with experimental data was obtained. However, due to the increased request on results accuracy and prediction, this is replaced by a full finite element simulation using FE dummy models. The increased computation resources needed were compensated by optimized architecture code and improved hardware performances.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
and Mississippi State University
Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
simulated various crash scenarios on a Chrysler Neon passenger vehicle using PAM-CRASH and another crash simulation code. The test data and simulation results correlated very well with only minor discrepancies in terms of overall impact deformation, component failure modes and velocity and acceleration at various locations on the vehicle.
PAM-CRASH was used to evaluate safety issues at the Beryl Bravo offshore platform in the North Sea which is operated by ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
. ExxonMobil made the decision to upgrade existing fire barriers adjacent to the process and compression areas into blast walls that would be capable of containing an explosion in these areas without rupture and would provide a fire barrier. PAM-CRASH was used to perform numerical simulations of the dynamic response of the structure subjected to explosion scenarios. The PAM-CRASH computation models agreed with experimental results and were used to guide the process of designing the new blast walls.
PAM-CRASH is used by automobile manufacturers to improve their rankings in New Car Assessment Programs (NCAPs) that are intended to provide consumers with a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of competing automobile models. These programs include the Euro NCAP and Japan NCAP as well as a similar rating system provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government, part of the Department of Transportation...
(NHTSA).