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Certain problems associated with conventional vehicular speed sensing, such as wheel slip, wheel lock, and variable rolling radius, can be alleviated by employing microwave speed sensing. It is expected that true speed sensing will augment a number of automotive and other ground transportation applications. An experimental, two-horn, 55 GHz continuous wave radar speedometer designed to measure true ground speed in the presence of vehicular perturbations is described; the system has an ultimate design frequency of 60 GHz. An Impatt diode, solid-state transmitter was incorporated in this design because of its inherent advantages. The RF portion of the transmitter-receiver unit, including the dipole feed, is housed on a single microstrip circuit on an alumina substrate 1/2 X 1/4 in (12.7 X 6.35 mm). Vertically polarized beams incident at angles of 35 deg with respect to the horizontal system were chosen as a design compromise.

Researchers report an estimated 35.7 million of vehicles with touchscreens will be sold in 2019 worldwide [1]. As the use of touchscreens grows in the automotive industry, there is a need to study how driver’s arm and hand moves to access the touchscreen as well as how the driver utilizes the hardware around the touchscreen. In order to aid drivers while using the touchscreen and to minimize distractions, the drivers’ hand must be able to freely move to perform a task on the touchscreen without the trim interfering with the task. At the same time some trim may be used to support the hand and fingers while accessing the touchscreen particularly during tasks that take a longer period of time to complete. A study was performed to understand the effect of the size and the angle of a shelf placed under a touchscreen. Motion capture (Mocap) data of the hand of subjects performing two different tasks on the touchscreen was collected in the Human Occupant Package Simulator (HOPS).

A computational model of a mid-size sport utility vehicle was developed using MADYMO. The model includes a detailed description of the suspension system and tire characteristics that incorporated the Delft-Tyre magic formula description. The model was correlated by simulating a vehicle suspension kinematics and compliance test. The correlated model was then used to simulate a J-turn vehicle dynamics test maneuver, a roll and non-roll ditch test, corkscrew ramp and a lateral trip test, the results of which are presented in this paper. The results indicate that MADYMO is able to reasonably predict the vehicle and occupant responses in these types of applications and is potentially suited as a tool to help setup a suite of vehicle configurations and test conditions for rollover sensor testing. A suspension system sensitivity study is presented for the laterally tripped non-roll event.

A vehicle integrated sensing and analysis system has been designed, implemented, and demonstrated to nonintrusively monitor several biological signals of the driver. The biological driver signals measured by the system are the heart electrical signals or pseudo Lead-I electrocardiography (pLI-ECG), the galvanic skin response (GSR) or electrical conductance measured from the driver's fingers to palm, the palm skin temperature, the face skin temperature, and the respiration rate. The pLI-ECG and GSR measurements are made through direct contact of the driver hands with stainless steel electrodes integrated in the steering wheel rim. The temperature measurements are made with non-contacting infrared temperature sensors, also located on the steering wheel. The respiration rate was measured using a flexible thin film piezoelectric sensor affixed to the seatbelt.

The search for improvements in occupant protection under vehicle impact is hampered by a real lack of reliable biomechanical data. To help fill this void, General Motors has initiated joint research with independent researchers such as the School of Medicine, U. C. L. A. – in this case to study localized head and facial trauma — and has developed such unique laboratory tools as “Tramasaf,” a human-simulating headform, and “MetNet,” a pressure-sensitive metal foam. Research applied directly to product design also has culminated in developments such as the Side-Guard Beam for side impact protection.

The ability to extract and evaluate the time history of structural deformations or crush during vehicle crashes represents a significant challenge to automotive safety researchers. Current methods are limited by the use of electro-mechanical devices such as string pots and/or linear variable displacement transducers (LVDT). Typically, one end of the transducer must be mounted to a point on the structure that will remain un-deformed during the event; the other end is then attached to the point on the structure where the deformation is to be measured. This approach measures the change in distance between these two points and is unable to resolve any movement into its respective X, Y, or Z directions. Also, the accuracy of electro-mechanical transducers is limited by their dynamic response to crash conditions. The photogrammetry technique has been used successfully in a wide variety of applications including aerial surveying, civil engineering and documentation of traffic accidents.

The head, chest and femurs of three Hybrid II dummies were impacted with a ballistic pendulum at various angles to determine what differences in accelerometer and femur load cell output would result for a constant energy input. Also evaluated were suspicious tension loads in the femur load cell output when the legs were subjected to obvious off-center impacts during crash tests. It was found that the dummy legs can be subjected to very high torsion and bending loads which can have a significant effect on the femur load cell axial load outputs.

Due to the challenges in quantifying hand loads in manufacturing environments it is often assumed that the load is evenly distributed between the hands, even when handling parts with non-uniform mass distribution. This study estimated hand loads for six female subjects, when handling a custom part in 8 different configurations (2 weights, 4 CofM locations). The calculated hand loads varied from 20 to 50% of the weight being handled. The magnitude of asymmetrical hand loading depended on both the part orientation and the location of the CoM. Based on this study the knowledge of part weight, CofM location and hand positioning will allow the users of digital human models to perform more realistic and reliable task analysis assessments as the force distributions will be more representative of the actual loading rather than simply assuming the load is evenly distributed between the hands.

Variations in human skull thickness affecting human head dynamic impact responses were studied by finite element modeling techniques, experimental measurements, and histology examinations. The aims of the study were to better understand the influences of skull thickness variations on human head dynamic impact responses and the injury mechanisms of human head during direct impact. The thicknesses of the frontal bone of seven human cadaver skulls were measured using ultrasonic technology. These measurements were compared with previous experimental data. Histology of the skull was recorded and examined. The measured data were analyzed and then served as a reference to vary the skull thickness of a previously published three-dimensional finite element human head model to create four models with different skull thickness. The skull thicknesses modeled are 4.6 mm, 5.98 mm, 7.68 mm, and 9.61 mm.

The dilemma of using a shoulder belt force limiter with a 3-point belt system is selecting a limit load that will balance the reduced risk of significant thoracic injury due to the shoulder belt loading of the chest against the increased risk of significant head injury due to the greater upper torso motion allowed by the shoulder belt load limiter. However, with the use of air bags, this dilemma is more manageable since it only occurs for non-deploy accidents where the risk of significant head injury is low even for the unbelted occupant. A study was done using a validated occupant dynamics model of the Hybrid III dummy to investigate the effects that a prescribed set of shoulder belt force limits had on head and thoracic responses for 48 and 56 km/h barrier simulations with driver air bag deployment and for threshold crash severity simulations with no air bag deployment.

There has been a general consensus in the scientific literature that a rim gouging, not scraping, into a roadway surface generates very high forces which can cause a vehicle to overturn in some situations. However, a paper published in 2004 attempts to minimize the forces created during wheel rim gouging and the effect on vehicle rollover. This paper relied largely on heavily filtered lateral acceleration data and discounted additional test runs by the authors and NHTSA that did not support the supposed conclusions. This paper will discuss the effect of rim gouging using accepted scientific methods, including full vehicle testing where vehicle accelerations were measured during actual rim gouging events and static testing of side forces exerted by wheels mounted on a moving test fixture. The data analyzed in this paper clearly shows that forces created by rim gouges on pavement can be thousands of Newtons and can contribute to vehicle rollover.

This paper describes (1) the findings from the implementation of a component test methodology for body, engine and transmission mounts [1, 2 and 3], and (2) the associated CAE model development and mount design robustness enhancement. A series of component tests on light truck body, engine and transmission mounts have been conducted to not only obtain their characteristics as inputs for crashworthiness analysis, but also drive mount design direction for frontal impacts.

The front rail plays an important role in the performance of body-on-frame (BOF) vehicles in frontal crashes. New developments in materials and forming technology have led to the exploration of different configurations to improve crash performance. This paper presents the initial stages of an ongoing study to investigate the effects of the cross section of steel columns on crash performance in automotive applications. Because accurate prediction of the performance of these rails can help reduce the amount of physical crash testing necessary, the focus of this paper is on appropriate testing and modeling procedures for different rail configurations. In the first part of this paper, the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) methodology is presented with respect to correlation with real world tests. The effects of various parameters are described, along with the optimum configuration for model correlation.

The front end module technology is a system developed to make the interface with vehicle body in accordance with costumer requirements. This modular system also has characteristics to reinforce the structure (chassis, main rails, shotguns), respecting its robustness (tolerances of the body) in accordance with NVH performance. The decision of having a FEM design made by steel and plastic was taken due to NVH specification, impact and safety requirements. Other items were either considered such as: fixation on the body of the vehicle, constraints between bumper beam and engine cooling module. Simulation tools including: durability test (static and dynamic) and modal F.E.A analysis, CAE system, crash test performance, aerodynamics required to insure results desired results.

Little has been reported in the literature on the compressive properties of muscle. These data are needed for the development of finite element models that address impact of the muscles, especially in the study of pedestrian impact. Tests were conducted to characterize the compressive response of muscle. Volunteers, cadaveric specimens and a Hybrid III dummy were impacted in the posterior and lateral aspect of the lower leg using a free flying pendulum. Volunteer muscles were tested while tensed and relaxed. The effects of muscle tension were found to influence results, especially in posterior leg impacts. Cadaveric response was found to be similar to that of the relaxed volunteer. The resulting data can be used to identify a material law using an inverse method.

The optimization method and CAE analysis have been widely used in structure design for crash safety. Combining the CAE analysis and optimization approach, vehicle structure design for crash can be implemented more efficiently. One of the recent safety desirables in structure design is to reduce vehicle pitch and drop. At frontal impact tests with unbelted occupants, the interaction between occupant's head and interior header/sun visor, which is caused by excessive vehicle pitch and drop, is not desired in vehicle crash development. In order to comply with the federal frontal crash requirements for unbelted occupant, it is necessary to manage the vehicle pitch and drop by improving structure design. In this paper, a systematic process of CAE analysis with optimization approach is applied for discovering the major structural components affecting vehicle pitch and drop.

In vehicle safety engineering, it is important to determine the severity of occupant injury during a crash. Computer simulations are widely used to study how occupants move in a crash, what they collide during the crash and thus how they are injured. The vehicle motion is typically defined for the occupant simulation by specifying a crash pulse. Many computer models used to analyze occupant kinematics do not calculate both vehicle motion and occupant motion at the same time. This paper presents a framework of response surface methodology for the crash pulse prediction and vehicle structure design optimization. The process is composed of running simulation at DOE sampling data points, generating surrogate models (response surface models), performing sensitivity analysis and structure design optimization for time history data (e.g., crash pulse).

The objective of this study was to analyze available anthropomorphic test device (ATD) responses from KARCO rear impact tests and to evaluate an injury predictive model based on crash severity and occupant weight presented by Saczalski et al. (2004). The KARCO tests were carried out with various seat designs. Biomechanical responses were evaluated in speed ranges of 7-12, 13-17, 18-23 and 24-34 mph. For this analysis, all tests with matching yielding and stiff seats and matching occupant size and weight were analyzed for cases without 2nd row occupant interaction. Overall, the test data shows that conventional yielding seats provide a high degree of safety for small to large adult occupants in rear crashes; this data is also consistent with good field performance as found in NASS-CDS. Saczalski et al.'s (2004) predictive model of occupant injury is not correct as there are numerous cases from NASS-CDS that show no or minor injury in the region where serious injury is predicted.

At the Tenth ESV Conference, MVMA reported on the development of a component side impact test device developed for MVMA by MGA Research Corporation. Since that time, the test device has been modified by MGA to improve its biofidelity. Testing has shown that the modified device better meets the force-time corridors derived by MVMA from cadaver drop test data. The improved test device was used to test twelve 1985 Ford LTD doors at speeds of 25.7 and 37 km/h. The interior door surfaces were trimmed with either thin fiber board or foam padding identical to doors in vehicles tested by MVMA using NHTSA's full-vehicle test procedure. The tests showed that the MVMA device is simple to set up and run, is highly repeatable and easily discriminates between the unpadded and padded doors. A major issue for future research and development is how to select a priori a component test device impact speed which can account for differences in car size and side structure stiffness.

In the past twenty years, the explicit finite element method has been successfully employed for crash simulation. At present, crashworthiness analysis is still basically a calibration based engineering practice, but not a fully predictive process. The increasing expectations and requirements on CAE are even more challenging. To develop a predictive and reliable CAE tool, it is important to investigate the root causes that affect the numerical accuracy and the availability of the analytical method. Some of the challenging issues are discussed here from both theoretical and engineering aspects, such as convergence of explicit finite element method, locking-free shell element, analysis of material rupture, and modeling of spot weld.