Vehicle Crashworthiness and Occupant Protection - Chapter 3

Finite Element Analytical Techniques
and Applications to Structural Design
-50.
-150.
-250.
-350.
-450.
-550.
-650.
-750.
0. 20. 40. 60. 80. 100.
MINIMUM=
-8.1352E+02
MAXIMUM=
0.0000E=00 NODE A= 63575 B= NCAP C= POLE D= OFFSET
Fig. 3.6.4.9 Frontal vehicle deformations for 30 mph,
NCAP
frontal, side, rear vehicle impact with barriers. Vehicle-to-vehicle collisions were
also developed and analyzed. In addition to vehicle structural modeling, dummy
and air bag models were created and their responses were validated against
experimental data.
In 1995 [51], a process was established to integrate vehicle structure, instrument
panel, steering assembly, driver air bag and Hybrid III dummy models in a single
FE model. This process centered on integrating existing components and
subsystem models and clearly demonstrated that explicit FE technology can
simulate both structural and restrained occupant response resulting from a vehicle
crash in a single integrated model, although the results are preliminary.
3.8 References
1. Rapin, M.P., (1970) Vehicle Structural Crashworthiness in Proceedings
of 1970 International Automobile Safety Conference Compendium, Detroit,
Michigan, pp. 927-940.
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