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The statistical analysis of vehicle crash accident data is generally problematic. Data from commonly used sources is almost never without error and complete. Consequently, many analyses are contaminated with modeling and system identification errors. In some cases the effect of influential factors such as crash severity (the most significant component being speed) driver behavior prior to the crash, etc. on vehicle and occupant outcome is not adequately addressed. The speed that the vehicle is traveling at the initiation of a crash is a significant contributor to occupant risk. Not incorporating it may make an accident analysis irrelevant; however, despite its importance this information is not included in many of the commonly used crash data bases, such as the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Missing speed information can result in potential errors propagating throughout the analysis, unless a method is developed to account for the missing information.

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a system intended to warn the driver in order to reduce the number of rear end collisions or reduce the severity of collisions. However, it has the potential to generate driver annoyances and unintended consequences due to high ineffectual (false or unnecessary) alarms with a corresponding reduction in the total system effectiveness. The ineffectual alarm rate is known to be closely associated with the “time to issue warning.” This results in a conflicting set of requirements. The earlier the time the warning is issued, the greater probability of reducing the severity of the impact or eliminating it. However, with an earlier warning time there is a greater chance of ineffectual warning, which could result in significant annoyance, frequent complaints and the driver's disengagement of the FCW. Disengaging the FCW eliminates its potential benefits.

Reliable testing of a mechanical system requires the procedures used for the evaluation to be repeatable and reproducible. However, it is never possible to exactly repeat or reproduce the tests that are used for evaluation. To overcome this limitation, a statistical evaluation procedure can generally be used. However, most of the statistical procedures use scalar values as input without the ability to handle vectors or time-histories. To overcome these limitations, two numerical/statistical methods for determining if the impact time-history response of a mechanical system is repeatable or reproducible are evaluated and elaborated upon. Such a system could be a vehicle, a biological human surrogate, an Anthropometric Test Device (ATD or dummy), etc. The responses could be sets of time-histories of accelerations, forces, moments, etc., of a component or of the system. The example system evaluated is the BioRID II rear impact dummy.

In an environment of tougher engineering constraints to deliver tomorrow's aerodynamic vehicles, evaluation of aerodynamics early in the design process using digital prototypes and simulation tools has become more crucial for meeting cost and performance targets. Engineering needs have increased the demands on simulation software to provide robust solutions under a range of operating conditions and with detailed geometry representation. In this paper the application of simulation tools to wheel design in on-road operating conditions is explored. Typically, wheel and wheel cover design is investigated using physical tests very late in the development process, and requires costly testing of many sets of wheels in an on-road testing environment (either coast-down testing or a moving-ground wind-tunnel).

A process to create a vehicle resistance curve based on airflow predictions using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation technique is presented. 1-dimensional engine cooling system simulation tool KULI is used to compute the coefficients of vehicle resistance curve. A full factorial Design of Experiment (DOE) established the relationship between the coefficients and the sum of absolute difference between KULI and CFD predictions. The NLPQL optimization routine is used to accurately predict the coefficients so that sum of absolute difference between KULI and CFD predictions is minimized.

Ten sled tests were conducted with a Hybrid III 10-year-old dummy under a 3-point belt only restraint condition to evaluate its performance. The results of the Hybrid III 10-year-old in these tests indicate that there are artifactural noise spikes observable in the transducer responses. A number of metal-to-metal contacts in the shoulder area were identified as one of the sources for the chest acceleration spikes. Noise spikes were also observed in the response from multiple body regions; however, the source of the spikes could not be determined. Compared to the other Hybrid III dummies, non-characteristic dummy chest deflection responses were also observed. This limited analysis indicates that the Hybrid III 10-year-old dummy requires additional development work to eliminate the metal-to-metal contacts in the shoulder area and to understand and correct the other sources of the noise spikes. More investigation is needed to determine if the chest deflection response is appropriate.

This paper discusses steps for identifying, evaluating and recommending a quantifiable design metric or metrics for Side Airbag (SAB) development. Three functionally related and desirable attributes of a SAB are assumed at the onset, namely, effective SAB coverage, load distribution and efficient energy management at a controlled force level. The third attribute however contradicts the “banana shaped” force-displacement response that characterizes the ineffective energy management reality of most production SAB. In this study, an estimated ATD to SAB interaction energy is used to size and recommend desired force-deformation characteristic of a robust energy management SAB. The study was conducted in the following three phases and corresponding objectives: Phase 1 is a SAB assessment metric identification and estimation, using a uniform block attached to a horizontal impact machine.

One method of reducing the number and/or severity of vehicle crashes is to warn the driver of a potential crash. The theory is that there will be driving conditions in which the drivers are unaware of a potential crash and a warning system will allow them to, in some manner, avoid the accident or reduce the severity. In an attempt to develop an analytical understanding of Forward Collision Warning systems (FCW) for frontal impacts a 2-d mathematical/kinematic model representing a set of pre-crash vehicle dynamic maneuvers has been built. Different driving scenarios are studied to explore the potential improvement of warning algorithms in terms of headway reduction and minimization of false alarm rates. The results agree with the field data. NHTSA's new NCAP active safety criteria are evaluated using the model. The result from the analysis indicates that the NHTSA criteria may drive higher false alarm rates. Opportunities of minimizing false positive rates are discussed.

Establishing data adjustments that will give an interference free result for bluff bodies in automotive wind tunnels has been pursued for at least the last 45 years. Recently, the Two-Measurement correction method that yields a wake distortion adjustment for open jet wind tunnels has shown promise of being able to adjust for many of the effects of non-ideal static pressure gradients on bluff automotive bodies. Utilization of this adjustment has shown that a consistent drag results when the vehicle is subjected to the various gradients generated in open jet wind tunnels. What has been lacking is whether this consistent result is independent of the other tunnel interference effects. The studies presented here are intended to fill that gap on the performance of the two-measurement technique. The subject CFD studies are designed to eliminate all wind tunnel interference effects except for the variation of the (linear) static pressure gradient.

Airdam is an aerodynamic component in automobile and is designed to reduce the drag and increase fuel efficiency. It is also an important styling component. The front airdam below the bumper is to direct the air flow away from the front tires and towards the underbody, where the drag coefficient becomes less. The flexible airdam is made of Santoprene™ - thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), which belongs to thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) family. When a vehicle is parked over a parking block, the flexible airdam will be under strain subjected to bending load from the parking block. If the airdam is kept under constant strain for a certain period, a set will occur and the force will decay over a period of time. Due to the force decay, the stress will reduce and this behavior is called as stress relaxation.

In an Automotive air conditioning system, the air flow distribution in the cabin from the HVAC (Heating, ventilation and air conditioning), ducts and outlets is evaluated by the velocity achieved at driver and passenger mannequin aim points. Multiple simulation iterations are being carried out before finalizing the design of HVAC panel duct and outlets until the target velocity is achieved. In this paper, a parametric modeling of the HVAC outlet is done which includes primary and secondary vane creation using CATIA. Java macro files are created for simulation runs in STAR CCM+. ISIGHT is used as an interface tool between CATIA and STARCCM+. The vane limits of outlet and the target velocity to be achieved at mannequin aim points are defined as the boundary conditions for the analysis. Based on the optimization technique and the number of iterations defined in ISIGHT, the vane angle model gets updated automatically in CATIA followed by the simulation runs in STARCCM+.

Recently, the Two-Measurement correction method that yields a wake distortion adjustment for open jet wind tunnels has shown promise of being able to adjust for many of the effects of non-ideal static pressure gradients on bluff automotive bodies. Utilization of this adjustment has shown that a consistent drag results when the vehicle is subjected to the various gradients generated in open jet wind tunnels. What has been lacking is whether this consistent result is independent of the other tunnel interference effects. The studies presented here are intended to fill that gap and add more realistic model and wind tunnel conditions to the evaluations of the performance of the two-measurement technique. The subject CFD studies are designed to greatly reduce all wind tunnel interference effects except for the variation of the non-linear static pressure gradients. A zero gradient condition is generated by simulating a solid wall test section with a blockage ratio of 0.1%.

Automotive vehicle body electrophoretic (e-coat) and paint application has a high degree of complexity and expense in vehicle assembly. These steps involve coating and painting the vehicle body. Each step has multiple coatings and a curing process of the body in an oven. Two types of heating methods, radiation and convection, are used in the ovens to cure coatings and paints during the process. During heating stage in the oven, the vehicle body has large thermal stresses due to thermal expansion. These stresses may cause permanent deformation and weld/joint failure. Body panel deformation and joint failure can be predicted by using structural analysis with component surface temperature distribution. The prediction will avoid late and costly changes to the vehicle design. The temperature profiles on the vehicle components are the key boundary conditions used to perform structure analysis.

This paper reports a study undertaken by the Crash Safety Working Group (CSWG) of the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) to determine generic acceleration pulses for testing and evaluating advanced batteries subjected to inertial loading for application in electric passenger vehicles. These pulses were based on characterizing vehicle acceleration time histories from standard laboratory vehicle crash tests. Crash tested passenger vehicles in the United States vehicle fleet of the model years 2005-2009 were used in this study. Crash test data, in terms of acceleration time histories, were collected from various crash modes conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) during their New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) evaluations, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

One method of understanding the general mechanical response of a complex system such as a vehicle, a human surrogate, a bridge, a boat, a plane, etc., is to subject it to an input, such as an impact, and obtain the response time-histories. The responses can be accelerations, velocities, strains, etc. In general, when experiments of this type are run the responses are contaminated by sample-to-sample variation, test-to-test variability, random noise, instrumentation noise, and noise from unknown sources. One common method of addressing the noise in the system to obtain the underlying response is to run multiple tests on different samples that represent the same system and add them together obtaining an average. This functionally reduces the random noise. However, if the fundamental response of each sample is not the same, then it is not altogether clear what the average represents. It may not capture the underlying physics.

This paper reports a 2010 study undertaken to determine generic acceleration pulses for testing and evaluating advanced batteries for application in electric passenger vehicles. These were based on characterizing vehicle acceleration time histories from standard laboratory vehicle crash tests. Crash tested passenger vehicles in the United States vehicle fleet of the model years 2005-2009 were used. The crash test data were gathered from the following test modes and sources: 1 Frontal rigid flat barrier test at 35 mph (NHTSA NCAP) 2 Frontal 40% offset deformable barrier test at 40 mph (IIHS) 3 Side moving deformable barrier test at 38 mph (NHTSA side NCAP) 4 Side oblique pole test at 20 mph (US FMVSS 214/NHTSA side NCAP) 5 Rear 70% offset moving deformable barrier impact at 50 mph (US FMVSS 301). The accelerometers used were from locations in the vehicle where deformation is minor or non-existent, so that the acceleration represents the “rigid-body” motion of the vehicle.

Regression models are used to understand the relative fatality risk for drivers in front-front and front-left crashes. The field accident data used for the regressions were extracted by NHTSA from the FARS database for model years 2000-2007 vehicles in calendar years 2002-2008. Multiple logistic regressions are structured and carried out to model a log-linear relationship between risk ratio and the independent vehicle and driver parameters. For front-front crashes, the regression identifies mass ratio, belt use, and driver age as statistically significant parameters (p-values less than 1%) associated with the risk ratio. The vehicle type and presence of the ESC are found to be related with less statistical significance (p-values between 1% and 5%). For front-left crashes the driver risk ratio is also found to have a log-log linear relationship with vehicle mass ratio.

Nij, a function of upper neck forces and moment, plays a dominant role in the vehicle's star rating under the new NHTSA NCAP front impact program. This is mainly due to an artifact in the mapping of the Nij into the “risk” value used in the star rating, and the fact that the neck region is not weighted appropriately to reflect its real world significance relative to the other body regions in the NCAP rating. New test data also show that compared with the 50th male driver Nij, the 5th female passenger Nij is significantly more challenging to contain and therefore it is more dominant in the star rating. This paper describes the Hybrid III dummy head and neck impact response and provides a method to determine the external force acting on the head. The force and its acting point on the head are determined from head acceleration, angular acceleration, and the upper neck forces.