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. Extensive finite element simulation of the vehicles and crash events, with an additional focus on the crash sensor requirements, analyzed many variables and led to an efficient test plan. Specialized barrier crash testing combined with this simulation to produce the input necessary to reliably discriminate between must-fire and no-fire frontal crash events. This development process resulted in a robust crash sensing system and effective occupant restraint systems for heavy trucks equipped with this new chassis. As a result of this development process, a robust calibration was generated, with optimized thresholds and deployment times for the real world crashes and for the FEA data. Validated simulation models are essential for generating reliable signals for the ACU development. A reliable computer aided design (CAD) process is necessary to ensure that the simulation model(s) matches the test vehicle(s). Close cooperation must exist between simulation, test and design throughout the development process. Simulation requirements such as video imaging, accelerometer location and static measurements must be taken into account during test planning and preparation. Model validation should concentrate on the specific time frame relevant to air bag sensing and deployment. Accurate predictions become more difficult for longer crash events that occur after deployment. These vary for each different load case. Load cases and tests need to be chosen to represent real-life crashes. The vehicle impact speeds and mass need to reflect this. Correlated simulation models enable effective exploration of the wide variety of heavy truck operating conditions. Lap-shoulder belts, supplemented by a driver air bag restraint, can reduce potential truck occupant injury in heavy truck frontal crashes, when implemented with a careful development process.
Heavy truck frontal crash protection system development
2007
8 Seiten, 17 Bilder, 5 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Heavy Truck Frontal Crash Protection System Development
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