Enhanced Finite Element Analysis Crash Model of Tractor-Trailers (Phase A)
While many highway crashes involve vehicle-to-vehicle impacts, a substantial number of injuries and fatalities result from single vehicle impacts with roadside infrastructure such as guardrails, protective barriers, roadway signs and other fixed objects. Very limited work has been conducted on crash performance of barriers when impacted by medium and heavy duty trucks due to the cost and the complexity of full scale truck testing. In collaboration with the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), the National Transportation Research Center, Inc. (NTRCI) has taken an active role in enhancing industry understanding of truck-infrastructure crash behavior through funding the development and enhancement of advanced finite element (FE) computer simulation models of truck-infrastructure crashes. Recent NTRCI funded work on refinement and enhancement of models of single unit truck crashes into concrete barriers has demonstrated the ability of this advanced computer simulation technology to provide sorely needed high quality data and analysis results at substantially lower cost than full-scale crash tests. The objective of this current investigation led by Battelle is to validate and enhance computer models of a tractor-trailer combination that will be used in analysis, design, and evaluation of roadside safety hardware. The research team will evaluate the overall fidelity of the tractor-trailer model by verifying vehicle failure modes from simulation against those from actual truck crash tests. This effort will enable the tractor-trailer model to provide more realistic predictions of crash performance and significantly reduce the need for costly full-scale truck testing.
- Record URL:
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Supplemental Notes:
- This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers Program.
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Corporate Authors:
National Transportation Research Center, Incorporated
2360 Cherahala Boulevard
Knoxville, TN United States 37932Research and Innovative Technology Administration
Office of University Programs, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- Plaxico, Chuck
- Kennedy, James
- Simonovic, Srdjan
- Zisi, Nikola
- Publication Date: 2008-10-28
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 120p
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Barriers (Roads); Finite element method; Guardrails; Heavy duty trucks; Impact; Single vehicle crashes; Tractor trailer combinations; Truck crashes; Trucking safety
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01131249
- Record Type: Publication
- Contract Numbers: DTRT06G-0043
- Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, USDOT
- Created Date: Jun 25 2009 3:03PM