Study of load cell MDB crash tests for evaluation of frontal impact compatibility

Takizawa, Satoshi; Higuchi, Eisei; Iwabe, Tatsuo; Kisai, Takayuki; Suzuki, Takayuki

Affiliations

²PSG Co., Ltd., Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate load cell moving deformable barrier (LCMDB) tests as a means of assessing frontal impact compatibility between vehicles. An LCMDB is employed to enable assessment of relevant partner-protection characteristics in addition to self-protection performance in a front-to-front crash test. The ability to control key characteristics of compatibility in LCMDB tests enables force measurements on the load cell wall to be used to assess structural interaction, frontal force level and passenger compartment strength.

In this study, LCMDB tests have been conducted with various deformable elements to determine how well they correlated with fixed barrier tests or vehicle-to-vehicle tests. Firstly, barrier load cell data measured in a full-frontal LCMDB-to-vehicle crash test are compared with data measured in a full width deformable barrier (FWDB) test at 56 km/h. In addition, some compatibility metrics such as average height of force (AHOF) and force distribution are compared. Secondly, an offset-frontal LCMDB-to-vehicle crash test has been conducted to evaluate the passenger compartment strength for small cars in an overload condition. Force measurements of the load cell wall are compared with data obtained from an offset deformable barrier (ODB) test at 64 km/h. Finally, an oblique-frontal LCMDB-to-vehicle crash test has been conducted and the test results are compared with vehicle-to-vehicle tests and with fixed oblique barrier tests at 50 km/h in terms of the vehicle and occupant kinematics.

The study has shown that the LCMDB-to-vehicle test offers a realistic simulation of the effect of differences in mass in vehicle-to-vehicle impacts, and enables compatibility metrics to be evaluated.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv19/05-0235-O.pdf

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