Predicting Vehicle Crash Performance in Offset Barrier Impact

This paper describes experimental and analytical techniques developed to alter a full barrier, one-dimension. lumped mass-spring model to a model which can be used to calculate the vehicle response in an offset rigid barrier impact. The changes to the full barrier model were based on significant findings from the comparative experimental investigation of the vehicle behavior in offset and full rigid barrier crashes. The techniques used to analyze the data in this experimental investigation are discussed. These techniques proved to be very effective in developing correlation factors between the two test types. Furthermore, methods of applying the experimental factors to generate new spring, mass, and contact data for modeling and crash simulation of the offset impact are presented. Finally, the paper discusses the correlation between the analytical results of the modified model and the crash test results.