Citation

Seyedi MR, Jung S, Wekezer J. Int. J. Crashworthiness 2022; 27(1): 273-288.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13588265.2020.1787660

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Rollover crashes have the highest fatality rate and exhibit complex and unpredictable mechanisms in terms of vehicle-ground and vehicle-occupant interactions. The objective of this study is to evaluate the tilt table and modified dolly rollover (MDR) crash tests in terms of how these crash tests can represent those interactions and compare their results with two real-world rollover crashes. An application of combined dynamic and finite element (FE) simulations was presented to assess the cutaway bus rollover crash. First, the numerical models were validated against the experimental MDR test. Then, two real-world rollover crashes were simulated in PC-Crash to find the kinematics of the bus prior to the first vehicle-to-roof impact phase. Next, the impact phase of these real-world crashes was simulated using LS-DYNA and the results were compared with the two rollover crash tests. The FE simulations were conducted using a 2-point belted 50th Hybrid III FE model. The results of this study indicate that the common impact mechanism among these rollover scenarios was the impact between the bus's roof corner (roof connection to the sidewall) and ground which caused lateral deformation patterns. Furthermore, unlike passenger cars where the vertical roof deformation can cause severe injuries in rollover crashes, the intrusion of the bus's passenger compartment was not identified as a main source of injury. In addition, the highest head, neck, and chest injury risk were predicted during the MDR simulation where the ATD was partially ejected through the side window. Lastly, possible future works and limitations were explained.

Language: en

Keywords

accident; ATD; Bus structure; dynamic simulation; finite element; impact; occupant response; rollover