RECENT ADVANCES IN THE ANALYSIS OF AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE CRASHWORTHINESS

Following an overview of vehicle crash dynamics and occupant protection, including a summary of four Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards of vehicle structural crashworthiness (FMVSS 204, 212-76, 219, and 301), literature on the state of the art in automobile crashworthiness analysis is surveyed, with special reference to frontal barrier impacts. Although the dynamic response of automotive structures has been analyzed with such tools as hybrid simulation methods, limit analysis and approximation techniques, and finite difference and finite element techniques, deficiencies remain in analyzing material models involving the mathematical theory of plasticity, and in modeling extremely complex automotive structures. Before a totally analytical procedure can be developed and economically applied, a mixed method (or a modular method), combining the simplicity of the hybrid simulation method and the generality and predictability of the analytical method, may be further extended to provide a practical improvement. Experimental techniques using half-scale steel and polycarbonate models to simulate the crush response to a full-scale vehicle are promising in view of their reduced cost, but further research effort is needed to address such factors as strain-rate sensitivity of materials and gravity effects.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • To be presented at Winter Annual Meeting of American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, 2-7 December 1979.
• Corporate Authors:

  General Motors Corporation

  Research and Development Center, 30500 Mound Road
  Warren, MI  United States  48090
• Authors:
  • Ni, C-M
  • Fine, D S
• Publication Date: 1979

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 20 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Analysis; Automobiles; Crashworthiness; Dynamic loads; Frontal crashes; Standards; State of the art studies; Vehicle safety
• Uncontrolled Terms: Dynamic response
• Old TRIS Terms: Analytical method; Vehicular safety
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00369190
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-031 024
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: Dec 30 1982 12:00AM