Car Front Towing Hook Analysis and Structural Improvements Based On CAE

International Industrial Informatics and Computer Engineering Conference (IIICEC 2015)
Car Front Towing Hook Analysis and Structural Improvements Based on

CAE
Zhiping Wang
Dept. of Automotive Eng., Anhui Technical College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Wuhu
Anhui 241002, China
a
email:[email protected]
Keywords: Front towing hook, structural strength, Structural Improvements
Abstract. In order to improve the development quality of car towing hook, through a car front
towing hook design and development, we analyze the strength of towing hook and local parts using
CAE. By comparison with the results and the target value, we evaluate its structural strength and
determine the improvement program. The improvement program shows that both the strength and
residual deformation meet the requirements.
1. Introduction
The front towing hook of car is a kind of graft gear which helps vehicles trapped in danger get
out of the Harm’s Way by drawing support from external force. As safety guarantee device of
vehicles, if there is flaw existed in the design of towing hook, it will not only bring damage to parts
of vehicle but also direct or indirect harm to person. So FEA analysis of situation like stress,
deformation of towing hook of car is significant[1-3].
The basis of CAE technology is finite element method. Its basic idea is to solve numerical value
physical problems through variation principle. That is to disperse digital analogy into several little
units, substitute original structure with discrete structure, use discrete structure as approximation
mechanical model of real structure. The numerical calculation is conducted in this discrete
structure[4].
2. Building up of towing hook FEM

2.1 Units type and mesh generation
This thesis is taking a certain car as an example. Towing hook is solid round steel which screw
jointed with towing hook pipe. Screw pipe is welded onto front inner and outer reinforced plate by
using CO 2 . In order to save the calculation cost, the author intercepts some areas of towing hook
and local parts and then carries out mesh generation of interception. According to 3D-Mode in
CATIA, the author builds FEM model. In the process of building FEM model, attention should be
paid to[5-6]:
(1) Towing hook and towing hook pipe are solid model. The author uses PSHELL shell unit
model building for stamping parts around towing hook. What’s more, necessary contact pairs being
built among different stamping parts.
(2) Carry out *Tie touch in the screw joint of towing hook and towing hook pipe. Use stiffness
unit simulation in wield joint of towing hook pipe and front inner and outer plate and reinforced
plate. Apply cweld unit simulation on tack wielding of local stamping parts.
2.2 Material properties
Towing hook and local parts connection is as Fig.1, towing hook material is
Q235-A( σ b = 422.3MPa ), towing hook pipe material is 40Cr( σ b = 902 MPa ), front protective
material is B340/590DP( σ b = 788.2 MPa ), reinforcing plate material is B340/590DP, anti-collision
lower plate material is Q235-B σ b = 540 MPa , anti-collision upper plate material is
DP1000( σ b = 1159.6 MPa ).
© 2015. The authors - Published by Atlantis Press 1113

1
6
5
4
2
3
1-towinging hook 2-towing hook pipe 3-pront protection plate 4-reinfrcing plate
5-anti-collison lower plate 6-anti-collison upper plate
Fig.1 Towing hook and local parts structure
2.3 Determination of boundary conditions and load working condition
For constraint load, we choose front protective plate section and anti-collision box section. For
load processing, application of force is in towing hook. But for easy check and calibration, we
choose z typical working conditions. Working condition 1: applied force is: (finished car
mass+5person weight + five persons’ luggage)/2, its direction is along the X axis negative. See
Fig.2; working condition 2: applied force is (finished car mass+5 person weight+five persons’
luggage) /2, its direction is on the XY plane, forming 30 angular degree with negative X axis[2]. See
Fig.3.
Fig.2 Straight pull load Fig.3 Inclined pull load
2.4 Strengthen analysis of towing hook

Fig.4 is the stress cloud calculated under working condition 1.We can see that the maximum
stress of towing hook and towing hook pipe is less than yield limit of local parts. The maximum
stress of towing hook pipe is in the joint place of stowing hook and screw of which the maximum
stress is 527MPa. The maximum stress of front protective plate is in wielding palace of it to towing
hook pipe of which the maximum stress 191MPa. The maximum stress of reinforcing plate is in
wielding place of it to towing hook pipe of which the maximum 648MPa is less than material
ultimate limit. The maximum stress area of anti-collision box upper and lower plate is stiffness
constraint place, not belong to danger area.
σ = 132MPa < σ b = 422.3MPa =

σ 527MPa <=
σ b 1395.03MPa σ 648MPa <=
= σ b 1159.6MPa
σ 538MPa <=
= σ 232MPa <=
σ b 788.2MPa = σ b 540MPa σ 191MPa <=
= σ b 788.2MPa
Fig.4 Towing hook and local parts stress cloud (working condition 1)
Fig.5 is the stress cloud of towing hook and local parts under working condition 2. We can see
that the maximum stress of towing hook and towing hook pipe is 447MPa which is beyond ultimate
limit 422.3MPa of towing hook materialQ235-A. Thus there exists safety loophole. The maximum
stress of stowing hook pipe and reinforcing plate is 1096MPa which is beyond ultimate limit
902MPa of material 40Cr, thus existing safety loophole. Stress concentration occurs in wielding
place of front protective plate and reinforcing plate to stowing hook which is less than material
ultimate limit, thus no safety loophole. The maximum stress area of anti-collision box upper and
lower plate is less than material ultimate limit and also in the constraint stiffness joint place, thus
existing no safety loophole.
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σ = 447MPa > σ b = 422.3MPa
= σ 1096MPa
= < σ b 1395.03MPa =
σ 655MPa <=
σ b 1159.6MPa
σ 504MPa <=
= σ b 788.2MPa σ 204MPa <=
= σ b 540MPa σ 503MPa <=
= σ b 788.2MPa
Fig.5 Towing hook and local parts (working condition 2 )
Fig.6 is the plastic deformation curve of towing hook and local parts. We can see that once the
working condition 1 is unloaded, the residual deformation is 2.4mm which is less than the standard
value. While once the working condition 2 is off loaded, the residual deformation is 25mm, far
beyond the target value.
36.00
32.00
U:DISPLACEMENT
28.00
24.00
20.00
16.00
12.00
8.00
4.00
0.00
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
Time
Fig.6 Plastic deformation curve of towing hook and local parts

The two typical working conditions show that resistance to lateral bending of towing hook is not
strong, especially when it is under working condition 2 of which maximum stress of towing hook
and towing hook pipe is beyond the strengthen limit of material. So we can judge that strengthen of
towing hook is not up to the design requirement. Plastic deformation curve shows that when under
working condition 1, deformation requirement is satisfied, however when under working condition
2, the requirement is far from satiated.
3. Improvement program and analysis

According to the above analysis of the strength and deformation，we need to make some
improvements for towing hook and mounting position. The main adjustment is for the towing
hook strength and pipe installation location. Fetch the towing hook pipe from the absorbing energy
box and install it in the front beam. Weld the front end to the beam. The diameter of the towing
hook increases from 18mm to 24mm, see Fig.7.
（a）original program (b) improving program

Fig.7 Schematic diagram of towing hook improvement program
Tab.1 show the maximum stress of the improvement program in working condition1 and 2. We
can see that the maximum stress of all components of the improved program is less than material
ultimate limit for different materials.
Tab.1 The maximum stress of all components for the improved program
component 1 2 3 4 5 6
working condition 1151
131MPa 415 MPa 705 MPa 456 MPa 154 MPa
1 MPa
working condition
406 MPa 955 MPa 926 MPa 634 MPa 509 MPa 926 MPa
2
1115
Fig.8 is the plastic deformation of the improvement program in the two typical working
conditions. The residual deformation of working condition1 is 0.55mm, lower than the target value.
The residual deformation of working condition 2 is 3.11mm, satisfying the target value.
[×103]
8.00
6.00
CF:FORCELOAD
4.00
2.00
0.00
0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00
U:DISPLACEMENT
Fig.8 The plastic deformation curve of improvement program

Through the verification of the improvement program, we can see that the lateral deformation
after thickening of the towing hook obviously decreased and meets the target value. The
computational model considers that when the towing hook twists in the end, the end face of the
crew thread and the end face of casing will fit, so the end face of the casing will restrict the towing
hook plastic deformation someh
If the towing hook twists not entirely, the towing hook plastic deformation will increase. The
plastic deformation is mainly caused by the deformation of twisting end and the outer end of the
connecting portion. So we can decrease the diameter of outer end and increase the diameter of
twisting end properly.
Conclusion
In this paper, through the FEM simulation analysis of a car towing hook, we find the inadequate
of the towing hook design, and provide the improvement program according to the analysis results.
The improvement program shows that both the strength and residual deformation meet the
requirements. The result shows that CAE technology is useful for towing hook structure design and
improvements.
References
[1] Wei Fu,Ying Zhang. Towing hook strength analysis for passenger car,Journal of Hefei
University,Vol.32 No.Sup.Nov.2009
[2] Chengen He,Dalu Duan.Strength Analysis of Draw Hook Pin of Certain Automobile on Several
Conditions,NO.10,2010(Cumulatively NO.280):38-42
[3] Haiping Yang,Liangmo Wang,Shuxi Peng,Jiazhu Su,Liukai Yuan.Analysis of the Off-road
Vehicle's Frame Based on CAE.Mechanical Science and Technology for Aerospace
Engineering.June 2011.Vol.30.No.6:1001-1006
[4] Yumei Hu.Basic Theory of Structural Strength of Vehicle and CAE Analysis Technology [M].
Chongqing:Chongqing University Press,2009
[5] Yiping Shi.Yurong Zhou.Detailed Examples of Finite Element Analysis for ABAQUS.Chine
Mechine Press.2006:166-171
[6] Altair HyperMorks 7.0 User's Guide[G].Altair Engineering Inc,2000
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International Industrial Informatics and Computer Engineering Conference (IIICEC 2015)

Car Front Towing Hook Analysis and Structural Improvements Based on

Keywords: Front towing hook, structural strength, Structural Improvements

2. Building up of towing hook FEM

© 2015. The authors - Published by Atlantis Press 1113

Fig.2 Straight pull load Fig.3 Inclined pull load

2.4 Strengthen analysis of towing hook

σ = 132MPa < σ b = 422.3MPa =

Fig.6 Plastic deformation curve of towing hook and local parts

3. Improvement program and analysis

（a）original program (b) improving program

Fig.8 The plastic deformation curve of improvement program

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