Application of topological optimization and biomechanical simulation to enhance the design of collision safety systems and injury prediction in new energy vehicles

This study explores how to establish a quantitative balance mechanism between the lightweight demand of new energy vehicles and the collision safety of occupants/batteries through multidisciplinary collaborative optimization. Integration of topology optimization and biomechanical simulation to facilitate the design and injury prediction of new energy vehicle (NEV) crash safety systems. Using extensive data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Center for Automotive Research (ARC), first, topology optimization is applied to reduce vehicle weight while maintaining crashworthiness. Subsequently, biomechanical simulations were performed using finite element analysis to simulate the human response to impact. These models are then combined to predict injury risk. Our results show that the weight of key vehicle components is substantially reduced, while the effect on structural stiffness is negligible. Biomechanical simulations provide detailed injury severity scores (ISS) for different body parts under different impact scenarios. The comprehensive model shows that compared with the unoptimized vehicle structure, the optimized vehicle structure is expected to reduce the overall weight of the new energy vehicle and reduce the damage probability of the optimized structure in the collision process by 18.2%. This study highlights the great potential of combining topology optimization and biomechanical simulation to improve the crash safety and injury prediction of new energy vehicles.