COMPATIBILITY STUDY IN FRONTAL COLLISIONS - MASS AND STIFFNESS RATIO

Compatibility of vehicles of different mass and stiffness in head-on collisions is studied in this paper with the aid of an eight-degrees of freedom, two dimensional lumped-mass simulation model. The model takes into consideration mass and stiffness ratio as the main factors contributing to compatibility of the two colliding vehicles. Other factors like length of crumple zone, offset overlap and speed are also considered. Three injury risk criteria have been considered in this study; delta V or change in velocity of vehicle after impact, maximum acceleration sustained by the passenger compartment throughout impact, and length of deformation sustained by the car front. The most crucial compatibility parameter is the mass ratio for the delta V criterion. The second and third compatibility parameters are mass ratio and stiffness ratio for deformation length criterion. A longer crumple zone is proposed for heavier vehicles to provide the required protection for smaller vehicles involved in head-on collision. It was found that both mass and stiffness ratio have no aggressivity on the partner vehicle when maximum acceleration criterion is used at low impact speeds. For the covering abstract see IRRD E102514.

• Record URL:
  • http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/esv/16th/
• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Safety Advisory Committee

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • JAWAD, SAW
• Conference:
  • 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles
  • Location: Windsor Ontario, Canada
  • Date: 1998-5-31 to 1998-6-4
• Publication Date: 1998-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 269-74
• Serial:
  • Volume: 1
  • Issue Number: DOTHS808759

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Deformation; Frontal crashes; Impact studies; Injuries; Mathematical models; Simulation; Stiffness; Weight
• ITRD Terms: 5595: Deformation; 1640: Head on collision; 9112: Impact study; 2163: Injury; 6473: Mathematical model; 9103: Simulation; 5931: Stiffness; 5485: Weight
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00779233
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, USDOT
• Created Date: Dec 7 1999 12:00AM