Plastics are widely used in automotive component applications, such as instrument panels, door panels, consoles and pillar garnishes. These components are subject to government-mandated impact tests for occupant safety. To overcome the traditional cut-and-try methods in designing automotive components, advanced CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/FEA (Finite Element Analysis) analytical methodologies have been used to assist the design and manufacturing of the desired components. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of material model and impact speed of the drop weight on the response of an injection-molded plastic knee bolster part under a designed drop-silo impact test. FEA simulations on the knee bolster were conducted using both LS-DYNA3D and ABAQUS/Explicit. The analytical results are compared to the experimental data from the drop-silo impact test. Several engineering plastic materials are evaluated, and correlation is quantified. Observations are made with respect to materials characterization experiments, material constitutive models within the analyses, and general test and modeling procedures. Suggestions are made for improved correlation for the future.
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