BEHAVIOUR OF PASSENGER CARS ON IMPACT WITH UNDERRIDE GUARDS

Much experience has been gathered on the impact behaviour of passenger cars crashing against flat barriers. This is quite different from impacting underride guards at the rear end of commercial vehicles. The side members in the car's front structure are the main energy absorbing structural elements, thus it is of considerable significance whether they hit on the underrider beam. Thirty-four crash tests were carried out in order to measure impact forces and deformations. The quasistatic crush forces of simplified side members can be calculated by approximation on the basis of many experimental results. A ratio of crash to crush forces was found from dynamic impact and static crush tests. The frontal impact of a passenger car on a flat barrier was simulated by crashing a simplified structural model consisting of an engine, gearbox, and front-axle etc. The required strength of an underride prevention device can be found from the deformation resistance of the ramming car's front structure. The weight of the commercial vehicle carrying the underride guard has little influence on the impact force and deformation because as the kinetic energy to be absorbed does not decrease in proportion as the commercial vehicle's weight is reduced, and, because of its inertia, the vehicle hardly moves until the peak crashing load is reached. Quasistatic strength requirements are presented as an aid in the design of underride guards. (Author/TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/14775360
• Corporate Authors:

  Inderscience Enterprises Limited

  La Motte Chambers
  St Helier, Jersey,   England 
• Authors:
  • BEERMANN, H J
• Publication Date: 1984-1

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 86-103
• Serial:
  • International Journal of Vehicle Design
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue Number: 1-2
  • Publisher: Inderscience Enterprises Limited
  • ISSN: 1477-5360
  • Serial URL: http://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=IJVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Absorption; Automobiles; Behavior; Commercial vehicles; Crash tests; Deformation; Dynamics; Energy; Energy absorption; Frontal crashes; Impacts; Loads; Motor vehicle bodies; Simulation; Strength of materials; Tests; Underride guards; Underride override crashes
• ITRD Terms: 6758: Absorption; 9001: Behaviour; 1356: Body (car); 1243: Car; 5595: Deformation; 5473: Dynamics; 213: Energy; 1640: Head on collision; 5567: Load; 5471: Shock; 9103: Simulation; 6255: Test; 1420: Underride prevention
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Research; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00382730
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-036 639
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 30 1984 12:00AM