This report presents a new shell finite element formulation suited for simulations of structures subjected to fast dynamic loads. The formulation was implemented in the Europlexus software and tested on case studies representative of vehicle crash analyses. The presented developments are intended for simulating vehicle impacts on security barriers, in the framework of the European Commission’s JRC projects on Protection of Public Spaces providing support to its stakeholders to mitigate terrorist attacks using vehicles as a weapon. A thorough study was performed on the state-of-the-art on modelling of shell-like structures, typical for vehicle components subjected to large deformations. On this basis, the most suited existing shell finite element formulation was selected for implementation into the in-house software Europlexus. The new formulation, called Q4GA, is an upgrade of the formulation Q4GS already existing in the code improving significantly the performance in configurations with distorted meshes, which can occur when modelling geometrically complex structures or when components undergo large deformations, typical in crashworthiness analyses. According to the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that the selected formulation is implemented before into a fast dynamic software using an explicit time integration scheme and tested for simulations of crashes.

BRANK Bostjan;  MARKOVIC Damijan; 

2026-07-13

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC146756

978-92-68-41164-3 (online),   

1831-9424 (online),   

EUR 40774,    OP KJ-01-26-285-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC146756,   

10.2760/2023427 (online),