OPTIMAL FRONTAL VEHICLE CRASH PULSES - A NUMERICAL METHOD FOR DESIGN

In a frontal vehicle crash, for a given crash velocity and given maximum vehicle crush, with a known restraint characteristic, what is the vehicle pulse, subject to lower and upper bound constraints, that produces the lowest peak occupant deceleration? A solution procedure using numerical optimization is proposed. The pulse is discretized in the vehicle crush domain. The optimization search is facilitated by a specially developed algorithm that is a hybrid of the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm for nonlinear constrained optimization and the genetic algorithm (GA). Optimization examples are shown with linear and nonlinear occupant restraints. Numerical results from the examples indicate that when the number of pulse discretization segments is less than five, the solution method is effective in providing pulse improvements for practical problems. A discussion on the theoretical and practical aspects of optimal pulses is also given. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, TRADE AND INDUSTRY OF JAPAN

  1-3-1, KASUMIGASEKI, CHIYODA-KU
  TOKYO,   Japan  100-8901
• Authors:
  • Shi, Yibing
  • Wu, Jingxian
  • NUSHOLTZ, G S
• Publication Date: 2003-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 15 p.
• Serial:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF 18TH INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE ON THE ENHANCED SAFETY OF VEHICLES, HELD NAGOYA, JAPAN, 19-22 MAY 2003
  • Publisher: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Biophysics; Calculation; Conferences; Frontal crashes; Hazards; Injuries; Methodology; Risk assessment; Vehicle occupants
• ITRD Terms: 2060: Biomechanics; 6464: Calculation; 8525: Conference; 1640: Head on collision; 2163: Injury; 9102: Method; 9150: Risk; 1715: Vehicle occupant
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00987377
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 3 2005 12:00AM