A NEW APPROACH TO IMPACT ATTENUATION

IMPACT ATTENUATION ASSOCIATED WITH VEHICLE RELATED ACCIDENTS IS REVIEWED. TECHNICAL AND ECONOMICAL PROBLEMS THAT ARISE IN THE DESIGN OF ENERGY ABSORBING DEVICES ARE DISCUSSED. THE MAIN TECHNICAL PROBLEMS ARE VERY LARGE DEFORMATIONS AND RATE-SENSITIVITY EFFECTS. A VERY BRIEF OVERVIEW OF IMPORTANT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN ANALYZING FOR RATE-SENSITIVITY EFFECTS IS GIVEN. A SPECIFIC NEW GENERIC STRUCTURAL ELEMENT IS SUGGESTED FOR IMPACT ATTENUATION: THE TUBE. PRELIMINARY CALCULATIONS HAVE BEEN PERFORMED TO DETERMINE DESIGN CURVES FOR STEEL TUBES. APPLICATION OF THIS ENERGY ABSORBING ELEMENT FOR VARIOUS PARTS OF THE VEHICLE ARE DISCUSSED IN SOME DETAIL. A DISCUSSION IS ALSO CONTAINED OF THE OVERALL PROBLEM OF CRASHWORTHINESS; A UNIT ON CRASHWORTHY ELEMENT IS RECOMMENDED. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rept 15, 22 PP
• Corporate Authors:

  Catholic University of America

  620 Michigan Avenue, NE
  Washington, DC  United States  20064
• Authors:
  • Perrone, N
• Publication Date: 1970-2

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Energy absorbing materials; Impacts; Steel; Traffic crashes; Tubing
• Uncontrolled Terms: Attenuation; Motor vehicle accidents
• Old TRIS Terms: Energy absorbers
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220958
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 3 1970 12:00AM