Title: Investigation of a series of relevant phenomena for modelling the full-scale crash test of a small vehicle with a guardrail system

Authors: Mario Mongiardini; John D. Reid

Addresses: Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 130 Whittier Building, 2200 Vine Street, Lincoln, NE 68583-0853, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, N121 Scott Engineering Center (SEC), Lincoln, NE 68588-0656, USA

Abstract: Computer simulations have become a common tool in roadside safety to predict the kinematics and dynamics of a vehicle impacting against restraint systems before full-scale crash tests are performed. Given the typical large size of the full-scale hardware, to maintain feasible simulation periods, vehicle models have to be limited to the relevant physical phenomena necessary to properly reproduce the reality under investigation. Hence, an accurate identification of these phenomena is crucial. This paper identified a series of physical phenomena not previously investigated, which have been found to play a relevant role for successfully modelling an impact between a small vehicle and a guardrail system. An analysis of the specific role for each of the investigated phenomenon is provided along with conclusions about which phenomena are necessary to model in order to properly simulate a full-scale crash test against a guardrail system. Indications for future investigation are suggested as well.

Keywords: nonlinear FEM; finite element method; modelling; LS-DYNA; roadside safety; model verification; model validation; full-scale crash analysis; crash testing; small vehicles; guardrail systems; simulation; vehicle impact; vehicle kinematics; vehicle dynamics; restraint systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAET.2013.050551

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology, 2013 Vol.5 No.1, pp.58 - 75

Published online: 30 Jan 2014 *

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