Curtain Airbag Linear Impact Simulation Method for FMVSS 226 and NCAP Side Impact 2014-01-0805

In current inflatable curtain airbag development process, the curtain airbag performance is developed sequentially for the airbag coverage, FMVSS 226, FMVSS 214 and NCAP. Because the FMVSS 226 for the ejection mitigation and the NCAP side impact test require the opposite characteristics in terms of the dynamic stiffness of the inflatable curtain airbag, the sequential development process cannot avoid the iteration for dynamic stiffness optimization.

Airbag internal pressure characteristics are can be used to evaluate the airbag performance in early stage of the development process, but they cannot predict dynamic energy absorption capability. In order to meet the opposite requirements for both FMVSS 226 and NCAP side impact test, a test and CAE simulation method for the inflatable curtain airbag was developed. The purpose of this study is to standardize the test setup for comparing the energy absorption capability of inflatable curtain airbag and to make criteria for meeting both FMVSS 226 and NCAP early in the program. This test and CAE simulation method can be used for A to B comparison between curtain airbags and for quantifying the dynamic restraint capability of inflatable curtain airbag. The robust design considering the real crash environment was conducted to determine the best test parameters, for example the shape of the impactor, impact velocity and impactor mass.

The developed criteria of the linear impact simulation can be used to meet both FMVSS 226 and NCAP in early stage of the program.