Search Results

The use of stiffness coefficients is a well-established method for estimating the crush energy of passenger vehicles involved in frontal impact. This methodology, as well as other crush energy models, have been adapted to take into account laterally offset frontal impacts. On the other hand, methods for estimating crush energy and/or Equivalent Barrier Speed (EBS) of frontal underride collisions (vertical offset) require more development. Further, there is a need for crush energy estimation models for cases of combined lateral and vertical offset impacts as well. The objective of this research is to computationally explore the effect of lateral offset, as well as combined lateral and vertical offset on the crush energy absorption of a car in a frontal collision and the feasibility of a generalized stiffness-coefficient-based EBS approximation approach.