Computer simulation of motorcycle airbag systems

Nieboer, J. J.; Goudswaard, A. P.; Wismans, J.; Janssen, E. G.; Versmissen, A. C. M.

Affiliations

Abstract

Nowadays more and more effort is being spent on the research and development of motorcycle safety improvements. Among these improvements are motorcycle airbag systems. Although a few airbag-equipped motorcycles have been built, the technology is still in a research stage. Along with full scale testing, computer simulations can be a successful tool for studying and optimizing these systems. This paper gives a state of the art impression on research and development activities in the field of motorcycle airbag systems. Further the combined multibody-finite element approach offered by the Crash Victim Simulation program MADYMO is applied for modelling the motorcycle-airbag-rider interaction. Both a model of a motorcycle sled mock-up and a complete model of an airbag-equipped motorcycle were developed. The first model is the mathematical counterpart of an actual sled test, representing a 90° frontal impact between a motorcycle and a passenger car side structure, involving a pre-inflated airbag. Based on the correlation found between sled test and simulation results, it is expected that the full airbag-equipped motorcycle model can be used for performance evaluation of different motorcycle airbag restraint systems under different impact conditions.

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
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Cited By (5)

Year	Entry
1994	Ramet M, Bouquet R, Bouallegue M, Bermond F, Cesari D. The effect of air bag inflation on the cinematic and the lesions of a motorcyclist. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 23-26, 1994; Munich, Germany.1241-1246.
1996	Newman JA, Withnall C, Gibson TJ, Rogers N, Zellner JW. Performance specifications for the neck of a motorcyclist anthropometric test dummy. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.1679-1689.
2003	Chawla A, Mukherjee S, Mohan D, Bose D, Rawat P, Sakurai M, Nakatani T. FE simulations of motorcycle: car frontal crashes, validation and observations. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
1991	Lupker HA, Helleman HB, Fraterman E, Wismans J. The MADYMO finite element airbag model. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). November 4-7, 1991; Paris, France.1139-1146.
2001	Mukherjee S, Chawla A, Mohan D, Singh M, Sakurai M, Tamura Y. Motorcycle-car side impact simulation. In: Proceedings of the 2001 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. October 10-12, 2001; Isle of Man, UK.