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The objective of this research is to understand the crashworthiness performance of composite inserts in vehicle structure and to improve the numerical model of steel-composite combined structure for providing better prediction in the design process of composite inserts. A simplified steel-composite combined beam structure is used for three-point bending tests. Epoxy-based structural foam and 33% short glass fiber reinforced nylon composite insert are considered as composite fillers in empty sections of double hat-type steel beam structure. Four cases based on the different combination of composite materials are considered. In the series of physical three-point bending tests, the force-displacement (F-D) curves and material behaviors are investigated. The test results show that the composite insert greatly contributes to improve the crashworthiness of beam structure as well as to reduce the vehicle weight.

According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS, 1995-2004), over 20 percent of fatal frontal crashes are into fixed narrow objects such as trees and utility poles in real world crashes. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has studied the frontal pole impact test since 2005, conducting a series of tests using passenger cars that are rated “Good” from the IIHS frontal offset test. Passenger cars were impacted into a 10-inch-diameter rigid pole at 64-kph. The alignment of the pole along the centerline of the vehicles in frontal impact was varied to study the influence on dummy injury metrics. This paper evaluates the frontal center pole test conducted by the IIHS. The IIHS tests 21 crashes impacted by the rigid pole using 5 vehicle models with two dummies in the front seat. Intrusions and dummy readings were reviewed according to the frontal offset rating criteria of the IIHS for structural performance and injury measurement.

Various numerical models of anthropomorphic test device (ATD) have been developed over the last decade ranging from rigid body models to deformable models. Today, these models have become an integral part of development and optimization of vehicle restraints. The objective of this work is to further advance transportation safety by providing easy access to robust finite element (FE) dummy models to researchers worldwide. To this end, the National Crash Analysis Centre (NCAC) is developing a suite of highly detailed public domain FE models of the crash test dummies. This paper presents the modeling and validation status of the most commonly used crash test dummy in regulatory and consumer metric testing, the Hybrid III 50th percentile crash test dummy. Systematic modeling and validation procedures are established and adopted to ensure the accuracy, efficiency, robustness, and ease of use of the models.