Improvement of construction of motor car body at the designing stage to satisfy passive safety requirements at offset frontal impact

The developed method for improvement of the car body design for “offset frontal impact” mode is presented. The finite-element model (FEM) components are described: car body, dummy, steering system including an airbag, and deform-able barrier. The principles of modeling each FEM component are substantiated. The results of passive safety simulation of the original body have been evaluated in accordance with UNECE Regulations no. 94. Using the method (based on ANSYS LS-Dyna software), the modified body was developed and the comparison of behavior of structural elements of the original and modified bodies was performed. As a result of application of the method, the energy-absorbing capacity of the body’s front-end structure has been increased and the damage of the crash-test dummy has been reduced.

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