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With the increased focus on fuel economy in the automotive industry today vehicle mass reduction is becoming increasingly important to automotive engineers. A common method to reduce mass for bumper reinforcement beams is to use aluminum extrusion technology. However, the use of aluminum extrusions comes at a higher cost than comparable steel systems. Two hybrid design approaches for bumper reinforcement beams are presented in order to reduce mass while maintaining a lower cost than aluminum bumper systems.

Laboratory testing and computer aided engineering (CAE) techniques have long been employed in the development and optimization of automotive bumper systems. However, as more aggressive automotive styling and performance trends and mass and cost reduction objectives continue to push the limits of known bumper system construction, early optimization techniques will need to improve proportionately. The limitations of today's test and analysis techniques for providing accurate predictions can lead to excessive factors of safety (waste) and/or expensive rework during latter stages of vehicle development. Much work has been done to improve the capability of computer simulations for predicting impact behavior (1). However, some of the development limitations can also be attributed to an inability to achieve repeatable results or to accurately simulate the low speed impact behavior of a vehicle with universal test vehicles (UTV).