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Research in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) has been increasingly focussed on the development of Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS). A CAS would reduce the incidence of collisions by providing warnings to the driver to take evasive action. Because single vehicle roadway departures, also known as Run-off-Road (ROR) events, are a cause of a significant portion of vehicle accidents and fatalities, an effective CAS for ROR can potentially improve highway safety dramatically. The development of performance specifications for CAS for ROR events is a part of an ongoing three-phase program for NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). This paper focusses on the development and application of a powerful simulation tool, RORSIM, for CAS assessments over a wide range of environmental, roadway, driver, vehicle and CAS operating conditions. The results of CAS effectiveness studies are presented.

Even under uniaxial loading, seemingly simple welded joint types can develop multi-axial stress states, which must be considered when evaluating both the fatigue strength and failure location. Based on the investigation of fatigue behavior for the multi-axial stress state, a procedure for fatigue behavior of welded joints with multi-axial stress states was proposed using an effective equivalent structural stress range parameter combined normal and in-plane shear equivalent structural stress ranges and the master S-N curve approach. In automotive structures, fatigue failure is often observed at weld end, which often show a complex stress state. Due to simplified weld end representation having a sharp right-angled weld corner, the fatigue failure prediction at the weld end tends to be overly conservative due to the excessive stress concentration at the right-angled weld termination.

The effects of electrode wear on nugget development during resistance spot welding are major concerns in auto-body assembly and manufacturing. By considering detailed electrode-sheet interactions using advanced finite element modeling procedure, this paper presents a framework for detecting the electrode wear conditions and associated nugget development characteristics. Two important in-process parameters are studied in detail. They are the electrode movement and the dynamic resistance. It is found that the second-order derivative of the electrode movement and the first-order derivative of the dynamic resistance can be correlated in a fundamental form to identify the detailed nugget development process under various electrode wear conditions.

Weld fatigue evaluation using the mesh-insensitive Battelle structural stress method has been applied to fusion welds, resistance spot welds and non-welded components. The effectiveness of the Battelle structural stress procedure has been demonstrated in a series of earlier publications for welded structures with different joint types, plate thicknesses, and loading modes. In this paper, a weld fatigue evaluation procedure using the Battelle structural stress method is proposed for friction stir welds currently being used in the automotive and aerospace industries. The applicability of the Battelle structural stress procedure is demonstrated by comparing fatigue life predictions for friction stir welded specimens to well-documented test data from the literature. Different specimen types, plate thicknesses and loading ratios were analyzed for several aluminum alloys.

An important part of ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems, formerly IVHS) is the development of collision avoidance systems. These systems continuously sense the dynamic state of the vehicle and the roadway situation, and they assess the potential for a collision. When the system determines that an emergency situation might be developing, it warns the driver to take evasive action. Such countermeasure systems must be subjected to rigorous testing to ensure reasonable performance in all foreseeable circumstances and effectiveness in reducing the incidence of collisions. The efficiency and safety of testing can be greatly enhanced by using a dynamic simulation of a vehicle in near-collision situations and “equipping” the vehicle with a proposed collision avoidance system. This paper discusses the development and application of a time-domain simulation code based on a dynamic model of the driver/vehicle/counter-measure system.

As the automotive industry seeks to remove weight from vehicle chasses to meet increased fuel economy standards, it is increasingly turning to composites and aluminum. In spite of increasing demands for quality aluminum alloy spot welds that enable more fuel efficient automobiles, fatigue evaluation procedures for such welds are not well-established. This article discusses the results of an evaluation Battelle performed of the fatigue characteristics of aluminum alloy spot welds based on experimental data and observations from the literature. In comparison with spot welds in steel alloys, aluminum alloy spot welds exhibit several significant differences including a different hardness distribution at and around the weld, different fatigue failure modes, and more. The effectiveness and applicability of the Battelle structural stress-based simplified procedure for modeling and simulating automotive spot welds has previously been demonstrated by Battelle investigations.

Lightweight, optimized vehicle designs are paramount in helping the automotive industry meet reduced emissions standards. Self-piercing rivets are a promising new technology that may play a role in optimizing vehicle designs, due to their superior fatigue resistance compared with spot welds and ability to join dissimilar materials. This paper presents a procedure for applying the mesh-insensitive Battelle Structural Stress Method to self-piercing riveted joints for fatigue life prediction. Additionally, this paper also examines the development of an interim fatigue design master S-N curve for self-piercing rivets. The interim fatigue design master S-N curve accounts for factors such as various combinations of similar and dissimilar metal sheets, various sheet thicknesses, stacking sequence, and load ratios. A large amount of published data was collapsed into a single interim S-N curve with reasonable data scattering.

In this paper, the applicability of the finite element-based, mesh insensitive Battelle structural stress method is demonstrated for fatigue life predictions of notched specimens (non-welded) with different specimen types, and notch shapes. Well-documented notch fatigue data were analyzed using the Battelle structural stress fatigue evaluation procedure, including notched plate fatigue data for steel and aluminum alloys. The effectiveness of the Battelle structural stress procedure has been demonstrated in a series of earlier publications for welded structures with different joint types, plate thicknesses, and loading modes. Here, a similar Battelle structural stress procedure suitable for finite element modeling and service life simulations is proposed for structures with notches. Unlike weld fatigue data, the crack propagation portion of the fatigue life associated with a notch does not always dominant the total number of cycles to failure.

The state of Ohio has recognized the importance and potential impact of Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems (IVHS) to its citizens and business enterprises. In response to the identified need, a small group of individuals representing Federal and state government, academia, and the private sector have worked together over the past year to initiate a statewide IVHS effort. This initiative is referred to as IVHS~Ohio. The objective of the effort is to "coordinate and foster a public, private, and academic partnership to make the urban and rural surface transportation system in the state of Ohio significantly safer, more effective, and more efficient by accelerating the identification, development, integration, and deployment of IVHS technologies." A May 1993 symposium was attended by over 220 people from government, academia, and the private sector. The result was a unanimous decision to establish a statewide IVHS program.

Welding induced residual stresses are an important factor to consider when evaluating fatigue design of welded automotive parts. Fortunately, design engineers have various residual stress mitigation technologies at their disposal for improving the fatigue performance of these parts. For this purpose, it is essential to understand the relationship between the residual stresses and fatigue performance quantitatively as well as qualitatively. It has been widely accepted that tensile residual stresses in welded structures are as high as the material yield strength level. Therefore, the fatigue strength of welded joints is governed predominantly by the applied stress range, regardless of the load ratio. However, in stress relieved components the tensile residual stress level is not as high, and the weld fatigue behavior is more influenced by the load ratio.

In this study, an incrementally coupled finite element analysis procedure is used to analyze the electrical, thermal, and mechanical interaction during resistance spot welding processes. The results of the finite element analysis are validated by experimental measurements of the weld nugget sizes and dynamic resistance. The temperature results from the thermo-electric analysis are used as the input for the prediction of the microstructure evolution in the resistance spot welds of high strength steels. Consequently such welding parameters as welding current, electrode force, electrode designs, cooling water temperature and flow rate, and electrode holding time can be linked with the weld nugget size, microstructure and mechanical properties in spot welds, and eventually the residual stresses and performance of spot welded structures.

Biodiesel has been used to reduce petroleum consumption and pollutant emissions. B20, a 20% blend of biodiesel with 80% petroleum diesel, has become the most common blend used in the United States. Little quantitative information is available on the impact of biodiesel on engine operating costs and durability. In this study, eight engines and fuel systems were removed from trucks that had operated on B20 or diesel, including four 1993 Ford cargo vans and four 1996 Mack tractors (two of each running on B20 and two on diesel). The engines and fuel system components were disassembled, inspected, and evaluated to compare wear characteristics after 4 years of operation and more than 600,000 miles accumulated on B20. The vehicle case history-including mileage accumulation, fuel use, and maintenance costs-was also documented. The results indicate that there was little difference that could be attributed to fuel in operational and maintenance costs between the B20- and diesel-fueled groups.

The nodal force based Battelle structural stress method has shown its mesh insensitivity in the stress analysis of spot welds as well as fusion welds. In the conventional structural stress simulation procedure, the structural stress is calculated at the nodes along the nugget periphery. However, implementing a nugget into each spot weld is cumbersome and time consuming not only in preparing mesh for FE analysis but also in preparing a series of structural stress calculation after finishing the FE analysis. Therefore, the efficiency of the current Battelle structural stress practice for spot welds can be improved significantly for structures with a large number of spot welds. The simplified modeling procedure presented here delivers reliable structural stresses at spot welds and these stresses can then be utilized for fatigue life prediction using a master S-N Curve approach that is applicable to wide range of spot welding techniques.