Evaluation of the Structural Design and Performance of a Floor Panel for an Electric Vehicle made of Sandwich Composites

This study is concerned with the design and structural performance evaluations of a floor panel for an electric vehicle (EV) made of sandwich composites so as to reduce the weight and improve the interior space of the vehicle. A suitable material that produces optimal performance in an EV made of sandwich composites must therefore be selected. To select the optimal material combination for the skin and core, numerical analysis methods and commercial finite element analysis programs were used to compare the deflections of various sandwich composites. From the comparison results, a combination of aluminum skin and PET-130 core (Al/PET-130), which possess optimal bending properties, was selected as the sandwich composite for application to the floor panel. Upon applying the selected Al/PET-130 sandwich composite on the floor panel and confirming its structural performance through static and dynamic analysis, the interior space and weight were observed to be improved by approximately 30% and 56%, respectively. In addition, satisfactory structural performance was confirmed.

Automated summary

This study aims to design and evaluate the structural performance of a sandwich composite floor panel for an electric vehicle, in order to reduce weight and improve interior space. By comparing the deflections of different sandwich composites, a combination of aluminum skin and PET-130 core was selected for the floor panel, resulting in significant improvements in interior space and weight reduction.