VEHICLECRASHWORTHINESSAND OCCUPANTPROTECTION

Contents
MotorVehicleSafety y TheAutomobileStructure Materials Crashworthiness CrashworthinessGoals CrashworthinessRequirements AchievingCrashworthiness C h Crashworthiness hi tests CrashworthinessModelRequirements

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MotorVehicleSafety
The first motor vehicle fatality y occurred in 1889 in New York City. An early period of safety from the turn of the century to 1935 period of genesis, growth, and development to understanding the extremely complex process of vehicle collisions. The second period from 1936 to 1965 intermediate safety period with crash avoidance devices. The third period starts in 1966 the creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

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TheAutomobileStructure
Currentcarbody ystructuresandlight g trucks
bodyoverframestructure unitbodystructure(includingspaceframe)

Vehicle V hi l b body d
External to minimize drag Interiors for adequate space to comfortably accommodate its occupants Vehicle body with the suspension to minimize road vibrations and aerodynamic noise transfer Vehiclestructuretomaintainitsintegrityandprovide adequateprotectioninsurvivablecrashes

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TheAutomobileStructure

BodyonFrame

BodyinwhiteofaUnibody construction

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Materials
The majority of massproduced vehicle bodies over the last six decades were manufactured from stamped steel components. Until the 1920s, automakers built vehicle bodies from a composite of wood panels joined with steel brackets. As metallurgists improved the formability of sheet steel and toolmakers built durable dies capable of stamping millions of parts and spot weld technology allowed for joining large body shells. Dodge built an allsteel vehicle body in 1924. 1924

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Crashworthiness
Crashworthiness Crashworthiness measure of the ability of a structure and any of its components to protect the occupants in survivable crashes. (aerospace industry) Crashworthiness connotes a measure of the vehicles structural ability to plastically deform and yet maintain a sufficient ffi i t survival i l space for f its it occupants t in i crashes h involving reasonable deceleration loads. Restraint systems and occupant packaging provide additional protection to reduce severe injuries and fatalities.

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CrashworthinessGoals
The body structures include progressive crush zones to absorb part of the crash kinetic energy. Vehicles maintain integrity of the passenger compartment and simultaneously control the crash deceleration pulse. p Accident reconstruction and analysis of vehicle crashes provide information regarding p g g the safety yp performance. Currently, vehicle crashworthiness is evaluated in four distinct modes: frontal, , side, , rear and rollover crashes.

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CrashworthinessRequirements1/2
Sufficientlystiffinbendingandtorsionfor properrideandhandling. Minimizehighfrequencyforeaftvibrations thatgiverisetoharshness. Accommodate A d for f arangeof foccupantsizes, i ages,andcrashspeedsforbothgenders.

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CrashworthinessRequirements2/2
Characteristics:
Deformable,yetstiff,frontstructurewithcrumple zonestoabsorbthecrashkineticenergy. Deformablerearstructuretomaintainintegrity integrity. Properlydesignedsidestructuresanddoorsto minimizeintrusion. Strongroofstructureforrolloverprotection. Properlydesignedrestraintsystemsthatworkin harmony ywiththevehiclestructure. Accommodatevariouschassisdesignsfordifferent powertrainlocationsanddriveconfigurations

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AchievingCrashworthiness1/2
Unique U quework o o ofauto automotive ot est structural uctu a crashworthinessengineer:
must meet all service load requirement and it must deform plastically in a short period of time (milliseconds) to absorb the crash energy in a controllable manner. must be light and be economically massproduced. The structural stiffness must be tuned for ride and h dl handling, NVH and d must be b compatible bl with h other h vehicles on the road, so it is not too soft or too aggressive. gg

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AchievingCrashworthiness2/2
AutomotiveSafetyengineer:
packagingtheoccupantsfor decelerations transmittedtotheoccupantsaremanageableby theinteriorrestraintstofallwithintherangeof humantolerance. Theultimategoalofthesafetyengineeristo reduceoccupantharm. Typically, Typically designersaccomplishthisgoalusinga combinationofcrashavoidanceand crashworthinessmeasures.

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CrashworthinessTests1/4
In spite of the tremendous progress achieved in crashworthiness simulations, vehicle certification relies on laboratory tests. tests Three categories of tests:
Component C tt tests t Sledtests Full llscale l barrier b impacts

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CrashworthinessTests2/4
Component Tests: Dynamicand/orquasistaticresponsetoloading ofanisolatedcomponent. component Crucialinidentifying
Crushmode Energyabsorptioncapacity

Understandingperformanceisessentialtothe developmentofmathematicalmodelsand prototypes. prototypes

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CrashworthinessTests3/4
Sledtest : Vehiclebuck passengercompartment Anthropomorphic h hi testdevices d i orcadavers d driversorpassenger. Dynamicloadvehicledecelerationtimepulse Primary yobjective j toevaluaterestraints Sensorsondummy,highspeedphotography fordata data.

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CrashworthinessTests4/4
Fullscalebarriertest: Collisionofaguidedvehicle,propelledintoa barrieratapredeterminedinitialvelocityand angle. angle Abarriertestusesacompletevehicle. ex. ex Regulations FMVSS208

Frontalimpactwithbarrierzero, 30 Unrestraineddummiesinthedriverandrightfront passenger

NCAP higherspeedimpactwithrestrained dummy

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CrashworthinessModels Requirements

Accuracy y themodelshouldbeabletoy yieldreasonably y accuratepredictionsoftheessentialfeaturesbeingsought Speed themodelshouldbeexecutablewithareasonable turnaroundtime,nottoexceed12hoursregardlessofits size,toallowforiterationsandparameterstudies. Robustness smallvariationsinmodelparametersshould notyieldlargemodelresponses. Developmenttime themodelcouldbebuiltina reasonablyshortperiodoftime,nottoexceedtwoweeks