Development and FEA of a Formula Student impact attenuator made out of cork.
50% weight reduction from the previous steel impact attenuator.
Design constraints
For a 300 kg vehicle mass at 7 m/s:
• Vehicle deceleration at a rate not exceeding 20 g average and 40 g peak;
• The achievable energy absorbed must exceed 7350 J;
• The anti intrusion plate must not permanently deflect more than 25 mm.
Steps
Firstly, several cork data models were correlated with experimental results. Afterwards, several design and FEA iterations were made to reach the ultimate shape
Pedro Costa 