Title: Design of improved energy absorbing pads to reduce occupant injuries in vehicle side impact

Authors: Murat Yıldızhan; Barış Efendioğlu; Necmettin Kaya; İsmail Öztürk; Emre Albak; Ferruh Öztürk

Addresses: Yalova Yolu R&D Department, TOFAŞ-FIAT, Bursa 16369, Turkey ' Yalova Yolu R&D Department, TOFAŞ-FIAT, Bursa 16369, Turkey ' Mechanical Engineering Department, Uludağ University, Bursa 16059, Turkey ' Automotive Engineering Department, Uludağ University, Bursa 16059, Turkey ' Automotive Engineering Department, Uludağ University, Bursa 16059, Turkey ' Automotive Engineering Department, Uludağ University, Bursa 16059, Turkey

Abstract: In this paper, design and analysis of improved energy absorbing pads, which are widely used for reducing occupants' injury in case of side impact, are presented to minimise the side impact effects on occupants. This research is part of an ongoing vehicle design and development project to reduce the vehicle development time and cost by using energy absorbing pads to improve the passive safety for side collisions and to reduce the injuries without further increasing weight of the vehicle. The use of energy absorbing pads, especially in side impact, has been increasing significantly for the last decades. The energy absorption capacity and lightweight material specifications of expanded polypropylene (EPP) and polypropylene (PP) are major characteristics that make the use of these pads in automotive industry. The present approach is employed to design improved energy absorbing pads using different materials and introducing material model selection, modelling, simulation and validity studies.

Keywords: energy absorbing pads; vehicle side impact; expanded polypropylene; EPP; polypropylene materials; vehicle design; occupant injuries; passive safety; side collisions; injury reduction; vehicle safety; energy absorption capacity; lightweight materials; automotive materials; automobile industry; simulation; materials selection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2016.078775

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2016 Vol.71 No.1/2/3/4, pp.174 - 190

Received: 24 Feb 2015
Accepted: 06 Nov 2015
Published online: 02 Sep 2016 *

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