Search Results

Heavy trucks are produced with a great variety of vehicle configurations, operate over a wide range of gross vehicle weight and sometimes function in extreme duty environments. Frontal crashes of heavy trucks can pose a threat to truck occupants when the vehicle strikes another large object such as bridge works, large natural features or another heavy-duty vehicle. Investigations of heavy truck frontal crashes indicate that the factors listed above all affect the outcome for the driver and the resulting damage to the truck Recently, a new chassis was introduced for on-highway heavy truck models that feature frontal airbag occupant protection. This introduction presented an opportunity to incorporate the knowledge gained from crash investigation into the process for developing the crash sensor's parameter settings.

A tractor-trailer combination unit was driven by remote control and overturned onto its driver's side during an overcorrecting maneuver at 40mph. The purpose of this tractor-trailer rollover test was to gain insight into the vehicle dynamics of a rollover and assess occupant protection during such an event. IMMI personnel first modeled the rollover using TruckSim software to predict the overturning maneuver path, required speed and location of ballast within the trailer. Simulation also enabled proper positioning of cameras and instrumentation to capture the event. Triaxial accelerometers and Dynamic Measurement Units (DMU's) recorded six degrees of freedom to characterize tractor and trailer vehicle dynamics. The driver and passenger seats in the tractor were equipped with the LifeGuard Technologies RollTek system, which includes a roll sensor, seat and seat belt pretensioning systems and side rollover airbags.

Full-scale vehicle crash testing is an accurate method to reproduce many real-world crash conditions in a controlled laboratory environment. However, the costs involved in performing full-scale crash tests can be prohibitive for some purposes. Dynamic sled testing is a lower cost and widely used method to obtain multiple, useful data sets for development of frontal crash mitigating technologies, systems and components. Wherever possible, dynamic sled tests should use vehicle-specific deceleration pulses determined from full-scale vehicle crash tests. This paper establishes a dynamic sled test protocol based on data collected from eight full-scale heavy vehicle frontal crash tests. The sled test protocol is intended to be utilized as a basis for building a body of knowledge needed to update heavy vehicle frontal impact test recommended practices. These recommended practices provide direction for the development of frontal crash mitigating technologies, systems and components.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Requirement (FMCSR) 393.76(h) states that “a motor vehicle manufactured on or after July 1, 1971 and equipped with a sleeper berth must be equipped with a means of preventing ejection of the occupant of the sleeper berth during deceleration of the vehicle.” [1] Furthermore, this standard requires that “the restraint system must be designed, installed and maintained to withstand a minimum total force of 6,000 pounds applied toward the front of the vehicle and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.” [1] Today, sleeper berths are equipped with sleeper restraint systems that function to contain the sleeper occupant inside the sleeper berth during reasonably foreseeable crashes. To assess the effectiveness of sleeper restraint systems, computer simulation models of the sleeper cab environment and these restraint systems were developed, with a simulated supine occupant in the sleeper.

Building upon prior research, this paper compares computer simulations to a previously conducted rollover crash test of a tractor-semitrailer. The effects of torsional stiffness were elucidated during the correlation of simulations to the rollover test. A commercially available vehicle dynamics and reconstruction software was used for the simulation. Unique aspects of the rollover crash test were modeled in the simulation. A tractor-semitrailer quarter-turn rollover crash test conducted by IMMI was reconstructed using impact and vehicle dynamics models within the simulation software HVE (Human, Vehicle & Environment). The SIMON (SImulation MOdel Non-linear) module and the DyMESH (Dynamic MEchanical SHell) module within HVE were used. During the IMMI test, onboard instrumentation recorded acceleration and roll rate data in six degrees of freedom to characterize both tractor and semitrailer dynamics before and during the rollover event.