Vehicle Impact Simulation

Abstract

Improvement in impact simulation between vehicles and roadside safety hardware is investigated. The use DYNA3D, a nonlinear, explicit, three‐dimensional, public‐domain, finite‐element code for vehicle impact numerical calculations is described. A preliminary example problem of a spherical impactor and a circular plate is used to model an impact between two deformable bodies. Numerical qualitative and quantitative results are compared with other known solutions. Finite element models of an actual vehicle and some examples of the roadside safety hardware are discussed. As a practical example, an impact simulation of a compact car with a light post is examined. The paper shows that even relatively small numbers of degrees of freedom used in DYNA3D program can accurately predict kinematics of highway vehicle impacts. These results conclude a preliminary feasibility study to develop the next generation of roadside safety computer software for vehicle impact simulation and analysis.