Crash Test Software for VW Rabbit Car 1981

[bpcaddy]

For my senior project i plan on litening a vw rabbit car. 1981.

Any software that i could uuse to model the care and provide great data on how i could improve the safety after i cut it up to lighten it?

Thinking adding roll bars or something.

 

[berkeman]

For my senior project i plan on litening a vw rabbit car. 1981.

Any software that i could uuse to model the care and provide great data on how i could improve the safety after i cut it up to lighten it?

Thinking adding roll bars or something.

Welcome to the PF.

An FEA analysis of crash testing would seem to be quite involved. I'm sure the big auto makers use some type of software for this, but it's likely proprietary.

Have you used FEA software in your ME studies? Which package? I'd think that you could model some of the individual pieces that you are considering lightening, in order to get an idea of the tradeoff of strength versus weight. Are you lightning only by drilling/milling material off, or are you substituting some parts with other materials too?