Development of a Target Vehicle Model For Vehicle-To-Vehicle Simulations: Part II Vehicle-To-Vehicle Impactsy 2002-01-0248

The objective of this study is to verify the performance of a target vehicle model in vehicle-to-vehicle impact applications. In some vehicle-to-vehicle tests, the target vehicle stays the same and the bullet vehicle changes from test to test depending on the programs under evaluation. To obtain reasonable crash pulse predictions in vehicle-to-vehicle impacts, it was decided to develop an accurate and robust target vehicle model first. The development of the target vehicle model was divided into two phases, rigid barrier and vehicle-to-vehicle impacts. Twelve rigid barrier tests, including full rigid barriers, angular rigid barriers, offset rigid barriers, and fixed rigid poles were adopted in the first phase of the study to calibrate the target vehicle model. The results of the study have been reported [1]. This paper focuses on the verification of vehicle-to-vehicle impacts. Five vehicle-to-vehicle tests conducted previously were utilized to verify the target vehicle model at the second phase of the study. The five tests include three car-to-car and two SUV-to-car tests. The results predicted at the left and right rocker/B-pillars for both target and bullet vehicle models are compared to those of the tests. The deformation modes of the target and bullet vehicles are also discussed.