Citation

Pal C, Ichikawa H, Sagawa K, Hagiwara I. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 1996; 1996: 1355-1364.

Copyright

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

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

More stringent safety regulations worldwide have made the development of a vehicle a difficult process. The automotive industry has been working hard over the last decade in searching for new methods and processes to develop new models to meet the market timing and the safety standard requirements. Consequently, various computer aided engineering tools have been integrated in the design process of vehicles and have become key elements in reducing the development cycle time and number of prototypes required for new vehicles. In side-crash phenomena, finite element modeling becomes essential in investigating the occupant's post-impact dynamic behaviors after contact with the door panels. Almost all automobile companies in developed countries are actively involved in developing dummy models to meet the stipulated occupant safety regulations. These models are either developed in-house or in collaboration with national organizations in the respective countries. In the present model, based on the initial NHTSA model, a number of modifications are made based on combined simulation and experimental verifications of dynamic and pseudo-static characteristics of different materials such as foam, rubber, composites and so forth. This report illustrates how the modified material and structural modeling improve the accuracy of the overall dynamic behavior. Numerical simulation is validated by a number of experiments which also include oblique impacts to incorporate the effects on the rear dummy on the driver's side.