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A tire model and its interface performance with road surface plays a major role in vehicle dynamics analysis and full vehicle real time proving ground simulations. The successful tire model must be able to support the vehicle weight, provide vehicle control and stability, transfer various forces and torques from road/tire interaction to a vehicle chassis/ suspension system. The dynamic effects in terms of tire stiffness and internal damping characteristics in impact loading conditions must also be accounted for in the model. A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tire model is established and its performance is validated using LS/DYNA3D* analysis code simulating the radial and lateral static stiffness test conditions, the one-meter dynamic free-drop test condition and the rolling cornering stiffness. The analysis results are compared with available test data and a generic empirical formula.

A new foam material model has been developed incorporating both theoretical formulation for low-density high-hysteresis foam and test data. Detailed formulation is presented. The finite element analysis of the resilient bumper and the IP head impact are also discussed. A good correlation is concluded by comparing the results from the tests and the FEA simulations.

In recent years supplemental inflatable restraint systems (airbags) have been installed in motor vehicles to mitigate driver/front passenger harm in vehicle frontal crashes. The performance of the airbag and the level of protection it provides the occupant can be evaluated by a combination of experimental and analytical techniques. Analytical modeling of airbag inflation is desirable in automotive design, particularly when the technique encompasses the airbag, occupant and vehicle structure in an integrated system. This paper is concerned with the development of nonlinear finite element (FE) technology to simulate airbag deployment and its interaction with an articulated occupant model. This technology is being developed in the dynamic large deformation Lagrangian based DYNA3D code which has been successfully used in vehicle crashworthiness simulations. The airbag material was simulated by an orthotropic “wrinkle free” membrane elastic model.