Citation

Satoh T, Takada K. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 1996; 1996: 518-524.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, In public domain, Publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There have been ever-increasing demands for higher levels of passive safety for automobile occupants. With small-sized vehicles in particular, we are facing the major problem of reducing occupant injury with a limited crush stroke. To cope with the problem, a body structure that effectively absorbs impact due to collision should be designed and developed. This paper reports the confirmation that a side member structure featuring a rectangular cross section is capable of ensuring a similar level of energy absorption to that of a hexagonal cross section. This was realized through the combination of the advantages of the thin-walled side member characteristics and addition of several corner lines to ensure equal ratios for the width and thickness of each side-wall. Static compression experiments and computer simulations were performed. Those results are also described.