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- Title
Design and simulation of automotive plastic pillars for occupant protection.
- Authors
Ribeiro, C. J.; Viana, J. C.; Vilaça, F.; Azenha, J.
- Abstract
Occupant safety is a major concern in today's automotive industry. Recent standards (e.g. FMVSS-201) impose specific requirements to plastic components used in automotive interiors, which have to afford impact protection for occupants, namely against head impact. The design criteria require head injury criteria (HIC)(d)<1000 and a deceleration lower than 180 g (1 g=9·81 m s-2), in order to avoid severe occupant head injuries. The plastic components are therefore required to act as passive safety components. In the present work, the impact of an anthropomorphic mass in a plastic pillar is simulated by a finite element code (ABAQUS). The polymer properties are obtained at high strain rates and described by an elasto–plastic model, being adopted as a maximum allowable strain failure criterion. The contacts between the mass, the plastic component and the steel chassis are considered and a deceleration–time plot and a HIC(d) value computed. Several pillar geometries are tested using numerical simulations in order to meet the standards' requirements.
- Subjects
AUTOMOBILE industry; ACCIDENTS; ACCIDENT prevention; PLASTICS; POLYMERS; AUTOMOBILE occupants
- Publication
Plastics, Rubber & Composites, 2006, Vol 35, Issue 6/7, p253
- ISSN
1465-8011
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1170/174328906X146513