Analysis of Vehicle Energy Absorption Compared to Non‐Standard Tests

Abstract

AbstractOccupant safety is one of the fundamental aspects to be considered in structural design, which is why the computer aided engineering (CAE) methodology has become essential when studying a vehicle. For the past 10 years, therefore, when designing a vehicle, it is necessary to simulate both standard crash tests, required for marketing, and evaluation tests, carried out by independent consumer bodies. Thanks to the strong European (also national) drive to improve road safety, economic and technological investments have increased. In addition to this, the analysis criteria, and protocols for carrying out crash tests have also evolved to properly verify the crashworthiness of vehicles. Standard crash tests (e.g., EuroNCAP tests) are not exhaustive of all possible crash conditions that can occur in real life. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the structural behavior of a European B‐segment vehicle by performing non‐standard crash tests, i.e., not dictated by any regulation, analyzing different initial conditions. In particular, a frontal impact against a rigid barrier and a side impact against a deformable moving barrier (MDB) are analyzed using standardized test protocols and are then compared with non‐standard tests, analyzed using finite element models that evaluate the amount of energy absorption.Chiefly, in the non‐standard tests rotated the angle of the barrier to 10°, 20°, and 30° for the frontal impact. For the side impact, only the position of the barrier (front and rear) is varied.