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It is important to predict the crashworthiness of a body frame in order to design the structure which absorbs the impact energy effectively at the front or rear structure member of the body. We have been analyzing the crashworthiness with the following methods to establish a fundamental concept on the buckling characteristics of the frame at the initial design stage of vehicle development. 1) The method to introduce the empirical formulas considered with the effective width theory 2) The finite element method (FEM) based on the plastic joint method 3) The buckling analysis considered with the initial strain and the inertia force of engine Nowadays, it is possible to conduct a large deformation analysis of a crashworthiness by using the Super Computer.

It has become possible to calculate impact phenomena of comlex body structures by utilzing of a supercomputer and recent progress of computational mechanics including the Finite Element Method (FEM). However there are some problems to rely heavily on these methods for the analysis of crashworthiness from the view of time and cost in modeling or in calculation. It is important to develop each specific say of calculation for corresponding to various crashworthiness in early design stages. This papaer describes some FEM analyses for the various crashworthiness in statics and/or dynamics, regarding the body structure as resultant of components such as a side frame and subassembly such as a frontal structure. As a result, it is important to select optimum methods from FEM analysis for static and/or dynamic crash. It is also discussed that the difference between static and dynamic calculations is observed in deformation mode of body structure in collision.