Title: The application of energy-absorbing structures on side impact protection systems

Authors: James Njuguna

Addresses: Centre for Automotive Technology, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, UK

Abstract: This paper presents a system to improve the protection to the occupants of a World Rally Championship Car in case of a side impact involving a tree collision using energy-absorbing structures. An outline of the immediate events after the car crash into a tree is provided followed by an analysis of a typical standard rollcage, then the design criteria and features of a carefully selected design concept. The design model is produced using solid modelling/I-DEAS 11 softwares and PAM-Crash is used for the simulations. The simulation results show that Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) is capable of absorbing and dissipating 98% of the energy of a 14 m/s impact involving a 0.2 m diameter tree.

Keywords: side impact protection; racing cars; energy absorption; sandwich composites; energy-absorbing structures; World Rally Championship; rally cars; occupant safety; vehicle safety; tree collision; side impact collision; vehicle crashes; rollcage design; solid modelling; simulation; energy dissipation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2011.041657

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2011 Vol.40 No.4, pp.280 - 287

Published online: 28 Jul 2011 *

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