Application of warm forming aluminum alloy parts for automotive body based on impact

Aluminum alloys are important technological materials for the application on lightweight design and development of vehicle body. The research works for characterizing warm forming behavior of aluminum alloys have generally reported. However, there were few researches focused on the flow behavior of warm forming aluminum alloy parts for the energy absorbing performance during crash. The tensile stress-strain response for warm forming AA5182 specimens tested under the strain rates of 0.0015 s^?1, 0.015 s^?1, 0.15 s^?1 and 1.5 s^?1 are presented in this paper. The data were fit to the Johnson-Cook constitutive model for the simulation of frontal impact. The energy absorbing performance of warm forming AA5182 parts were analyzed. The results show the higher flow stresses and lower fractured strain of warm forming aluminum alloy parts with the strain rate increasing. The flow stresses of warm forming aluminum alloy parts are insensitive to strain rate, while the fractured strain and elongation are sensitive to strain rate. The intrusion displacement of the warm forming aluminum alloy parts is appropriate for the satisfaction of vehicle body design avoiding the excessive deformation for the injury of passenger or the failure of frontal door opening. The feasibility of warm forming aluminum alloy parts is verified with the analysis of energy absorbing performance, stiffness and modal of vehicle body.     

Discomfort of vertical whole-body shock-type vibration in the frequency range of 0.5 to 16 Hz

Shock-type vibrations are frequently experienced in vehicles excited by impulsive input, such as bumps in the road, and cause discomfort. Current national and international standard weightings were primarily developed for assessing exposure to sinusoidal or random vibrations and not impulsive excitations or shocks. In this experimental study, various shock signals were systematically produced using the response of a one degree-of-freedom vibration model to hanning-windowed half-sine force input. The fundamental frequency of the shock was varied from 0.5 to 16 Hz at a step of 1/3 of an octave. The magnitude estimation method was used for fifteen subjects to compare the discomfort of shocks with various unweighted vibration dose values between 0.35 ms^−1.75 and 2.89 ms^−1.75 at each frequency. The equivalent comfort magnitude of shock showed greater sensitivity at frequencies less than 0.63 Hz and at the resonance frequency of the human body between 5.0 Hz and 6.3 Hz. The frequency weighting constructed by using both the equivalent comfort magnitude and the growth rate of discomfort obtained in this study was compared with the current standard weightings, W_b of BS 6841 and W_k of ISO 2631. The derived weightings for shock were applied to the acceleration of the shocks, and an enhanced correlation was proved between the magnitude estimations and the weighted physical magnitude of shock.     

Analysis of neck fractures from frontal collisions at low speeds

Neck fracture is a major cause of death in traffic accidents. This pattern of injury normally occurs in a frontal collision or overturn of a vehicle. This study investigates the case of a neck fracture from a low-speed collision. In the examined case, the passenger in the front seat of the car fractured his neck and died. He did not have his seatbelt on when the vehicle slipped on a frozen road surface on a downward slope of a hill and impacted into the shoulder of the road at low speed. In this type of collision, an occupant’s body will be impacted by the windshield or other interior trim of the car. However, in this case, rather unusually, neither body tissue nor fiber remained although the collision involved a broken windshield. Thus, the reason for the passenger death was unidentified. This study applied the computer simulation package Madymo for analyzing the accident. The result of the simulation was that the passenger, who did not wear a seatbelt, moved forward due to inertia. The upper part of the passenger then rotated and lifted when the knee contacted with the dashboard. By evaluating the structural deformation of the vehicle at the front, we deduced that the collision velocity was 30 km/h. Through a computational experiment that was undertaken using Madymo 7.0, NIC was estimated to be 240 m²/s². This result far exceeded the threshold for neck injuries. In particular, in comparison with whiplash injuries, when the passenger’s head directly impacts the roof following a rear-end collision, the bending moment through hyperextension of the neck is greatly increased. In this study, we concluded that the manner of death was the hyperextension of the neck, as the passenger’s head contacted the roof from underneath.     

汽车碰撞安全与轻量化研发中的若干挑战性课题

汽车结构与动力电池的碰撞安全性是开发轻量化、电动化汽车的强制性要求和关键基础性支撑技术。通过3个方面的10个典型课题及研究结果,介绍并综述了汽车碰撞安全性研发的技术挑战。第一,采用夹层式汽车前舱罩盖技术,提升罩盖结构力学特性的横向均匀性以及冲击响应历程的均匀性,满足汽车吸能位移限定下的行人头部碰撞响应控制;采用精细人体有限元模型解析复杂工况下行人下肢损伤机理和影响参数,基于人体组织损伤层面的虚拟评估改进汽车结构的人体碰撞保护设计;面向复杂道路交通事故工况和多样化人体特征,解决强非线性条件下的自适应乘员智能保护系统优化设计难题,通过在时间和空间上对乘员约束载荷的均衡化实现针对工况可调的碰撞保护。第二,揭示材料冲击测试中系统共振导致信号振荡和材料屈服放大振荡的机理,开发抑制信号振荡的轻质动态力传感器;精细表征材料在碰撞载荷和复杂应力状态下的力学行为,针对高强钢、塑料、胶粘和焊点等轻质高强材料及复合连接接头建立大变形失效断裂预报方法及仿真模型。第三,基于动力电池多工况挤压试验,建立电池在外载荷作用下的材料失效、电压陡降与温度上升的响应特征关联性,提出用力学响应特征预测电池内部损伤起始和短路发生的判据,解决电池在机械滥用载荷下的短路预测问题,建立能准确预测电池变形响应的数值模型及碰撞安全评估方法,并应用于电池包和电动车的轻量化与碰撞安全性设计。     

Fracture loci of DP980 steel sheet for auto-body at intermediate strain rates

This paper introduces the effect of the strain rate on the ductile fracture of DP980 1.2t steel sheet. Tensile tests of DP980 sheet are performed at a range of strain rates from 0.001 s^?1 to 100 s^?1 with three different shapes of specimens: the diagonally notched specimen for the in-plane shear test; the dog bone specimen for the uniaxial tension test; and grooved specimen for the plane strain tension test. To trace the strain on the surface of the specimen, 2-D digital image correlation (DIC) technique is adopted to encompass the remarkable transition of the fracture characteristics including the fracture strain, loading path and strain rate sensitivity. The negative stain rate sensitivity is observed on the equivalent strain to fracture which corresponds to the experimental results at low strain rate ranging from 0.001 s^?1 to 0.1 s^?1. The transition of thermal condition from isothermal to adiabatic comes into play to increase the equivalent strain to fracture at the intermediate strain rate from 0.01 s^?1 to 1 s^?1. The fracture loci incorporating with the Lou-Huh ductile fracture criterion are developed to identify the strain rate effect in the wide regime of triaxiality.     

Accelerated life prediction of fillet-type,gas-welded joints

In this paper, in order to save time and cost for the fatigue design and to develop the optimum approaches for accelerated life prediction of the fillet gas welded joints, the (Δσ)_R − N_f relationship was obtained from actual fatigue test data, including welding residual stress. Based on these results, the (Δσ_a)_R − (N_f)_ALP relationship derived from the method of statistical probability analysis was compared with the actual fatigue test data. From the result, the optimum statistical distribution for the accelerated life prediction was analyzed to be the lognormal distribution for the fillet-type, gas-welded joint. The mean accuracy of the accelerated life prediction was assessed to be 85∼95% of the actual test life at the 95% reliability level and ±15% standard deviation. Therefore, it is expected that the accelerated life prediction will provide a useful method for determining the criterion for fatigue design and for predicting a specific target life.     

Driver recognition of a run-over accident

If a driver passes over a pedestrian lying on the road and flees, it is considered a crime. In several cases, even if the driver fled and was arrested, he/she often asserts that they did not know that the victim was a human being. However, the investigation agency often believes that a driver can certainly recognize when he/she passes over a person. Accordingly, such cases frequently lead to disputes due to the lack of criteria for recognizing when a driver was involved in run-over accidents. In this study, tests were conducted both to identify if drivers can recognize whether their vehicles passed over a person and to examine how they feel at the time. A silicon dummy, which was manufactured to have the same characteristic as the human chest, was used in this study. According to the method specified in ISO2631, the vibration delivered to the driver was measured, and eighteen participants drove a vehicle over the silicon dummy to experience how the vibrations felt. When the passenger car for the test ran over the dummy at speeds ranging from 10 km/h to 60 km/h, all participants recognized the delivered vibration, and the VDV that was delivered to the participants ranged from 1.81 m/s ^1.75 to 2.38 m/s ^1.75. The participants thought that the object they drove over was a stone or a piece of wood. This indicates that the driver certainly can recognize the vibrations generated from passing over a human chest even though it feels like a solid object.     

Evaluation of a vehicle directional control with a fractional order PD<Superscript>μ</Superscript> controller

In this paper, a novel controller, the fractional order PD^μ controller, is designed to improve the performance of the driver-vehicle system. First, fractional calculus and fractional order PI^λD^μ controller are introduced. A control algorithm for vehicle directional control using the fractional order PD^μ controller is then presented. Based on preview-follower theory, the on-line tuning method of the fractional order PD^μ controller is designed. By comparing simulated and experimental results, the validity and robustness of the proposed fractional order PD^μ controller in the closed loop system are verified. Finally, comprehensive evaluations are performed between the systems with the fractional order PD^μ controller and with an integer PD controller. The results demonstrate that the use of the fractional order controller leads to an improvement of the performance of the driver-vehicle system.     

A fuzzy approach to reconstructing vehicle–pedestrian collisions

Vehicle–pedestrian collision is one of the most frequent and most severe types of road accident. Many models, both theoretical and empirical, have been developed over the last 30 years to reconstruct this type of impact, but not all of them yield accurate results, with a spread averaging about ±10?km/h. Many multibody software systems have been developed as well. They are very accurate and, when all of the parameters required by the software are available, they are the best methods to reconstruct the collision. However, complete knowledge of the precise dynamics of pedestrian motion throughout the trajectory is not necessary. For a court expert, the data on conditions of pre-impact, impact and rest position are usually sufficient to make an adequate survey. The fuzzy approach presented in this paper is used to calculate the velocity of the impacting vehicle, considering the main parameters, all collectable at the scene of the accident, with a precision of about 3?km/h. Accordingly, this methodology represents a suitable tool for the purpose of accident reconstruction.     

人车相撞头部伤害影响因素仿真分析及试验

在汽车与行人碰撞事故中,行人头部伤害是造成行人重伤或死亡的主要原因。采用有限元三维实体建模技术,建立了发动机罩和包括头皮、头骨两层球体结构的行人头部有限元模型,分析了头部与发动机罩的瞬态大变形非线性撞击响应,得到了头部与发动机罩相撞时的速度、位置及头部质量、发动机罩的厚度、摩擦因数等因素对头部伤害的影响规律,并对铝质与钢质发动机罩作了比较,结果表明铝质发动机罩对行人头部具有更好的保护效果。     

Profile-speed data-based models to estimate operating speeds for urban residential streets with a 30 km/h speed limit

A speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour (km/h) has been widely introduced for urban residential streets to ensure traffic safety and allow these streets to fulfil other intended functions. However, excessive speeds on these roads are very common, causing traffic safety problems and threatening the liveability of neighbourhoods. An effective and active way to deal with speeding is the application of a performance-based design approach, as mentioned in previous research. In a performance-based design approach, street geometrics and roadside elements are selected based on their influence on the desired driving speeds. The relationship between driving speeds and street features therefore needs to be determined. Although several studies have developed operating speed models for urban streets, all of these models were calibrated based on data for streets with speed limits of more than 30 km/h. The present research is designed to investigate the influence of various roadway and roadside characteristics on operating speeds on urban tangent street sections with a 30 km/h speed limit using profile-speed data. A simultaneous equation regression with a three-stage-least-square (3SLS) estimator was used for the modelling effort. The driving speed models developed in this study incorporate several street design factors, which provide helpful information for urban planners and street designers to cope with speeding issues on residential streets.     

The Wheel Shimmy Problem: Its Relationship to Wheel and Road Irregularities

SUMMARY

The equations of motion are derived for a single wheel steerable pneumatic tire system. Included in this system are a built-in wheel wobble and wheel-tire irregularities which produce oscillation of the normal load. Special emphasis is placed on the dynamic characterization of the tire cornering force and aligning torque. The results show that the built-in wheel wobble causes a steady shimmy which is large when the wheel rotation frequency is close to the natural shimmy frequency. The results also show that a normal load oscillation which has a frequency approximately twice the natural shimmy frequency causes a decrease in shimmy stability.     

轿车车身结构侧向耐撞性的有限元分析

以国内某新型轿车为对象,基于有限元分析方法,系统地研究了侧面碰撞的整车建模技术、移动壁障建模技术、仿真计算方法和结构耐撞性分析方法。实验结果验证了整车模型的有效性。侧向耐撞性分析以结构变形响应特性为主,包括结构变形能、变形量、变形速度等,运用碰撞响应时序图综合分析了碰撞力、假人损伤和结构变形等多项响应之间的相互关系。总结形成一套适合于轿车侧向耐撞性分析与设计验证的CAE技术流程。     

Influence of segment length on the fitness of multivariate crash prediction models applied to a Brazilian multilane highway

Road safety modeling enables the development of crash prediction models and the investigation of which factors contribute to crash occurrence. Developing multivariate response models is also valuable, but such models are currently under-exploited. Machine learning techniques, especially artificial neural networks (ANN), have been presented as possible alternatives. Furthermore, selecting a proper roadway segmentation is one of the first tasks in the standard crash modeling workflow. However, this is a challenging task, especially in terms of choosing a segment length. This article presents a study of the influence of segment length on the development of multivariate response models (i.e., three response variables: property damage only crashes, injured victims crashes, and fatal crashes). The models use ANN for a road segment of a Brazilian divided multilane highway. The highway to be modeled was divided into segments with 10 different fixed lengths. The model characterization included geometric and operational data available for the years from 2011 to 2017. The models were evaluated in terms of errors and by residual plot analysis. The 5-km segment of the northbound carriageway and the 4.5-km segment of the southbound carriageway presented the smallest errors and the highest values of R². The residual analyses confirmed the trend to improve the model with the greater segment lengths. This was clear by the residues' distribution around zero, except for the output “Fatal crashes”. The better performance of the longer segments models was expected because these models aggregate more crashes into one segment. The reduction of no crash observations also facilitated the improvement of the models' goodness-of-fit. The use of ANNs also revealed its potential value. However, it is still important to seek strategies to deal with the excess of zeros in fatal crashes; a problem that also occurs in the traditional statistical modeling process.     

Évaluation de mesures d’urgence potentielles en cas de pic de pollution atmosphérique en Alsace

Ten years after their implementation, the Alsatian prefectorial orders concerning emergency measures applied in case of exceedance of alert thresholds for ozone, nitrogen dioxide and, a pioneer feature of the French region, the PM, required an update. In 2007, the ASPA was mandated by the Bas-Rhin and the Haut-Rhin Prefectures to define and assess new emergency measures. The Alsatian emissions inventory first identified the activity sectors which would be potentially targeted by the measures, and then calculated the associated emission reductions. In association with the transportation agency, 3 scenarios were retained for concentration simulation: limitation of the speed limit at 70 km/h on freeways and major urban roads, alternated traffic in towns, and a combination of both measures. Then, an integrated modelling chain, including the CHIMERE and ADMS-Urban models, was allowed to simulate, for the three scenarios, the variation of ozone during the heat wave of 2003, and the variation of nitrogen dioxide and the PM during wintry episodes, for the cities of Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse. Finally, the urban cartographies of the impact of the scenarios on the concentrations were crossed with the georeferenced residence data to estimate the population affected by threshold exceedances in each case. A weak impact was obtained for speed limit reduction, while it was significant for the alternated traffic; for the PM, the concentrations fell about 10 μg/m³ and the population exposed to threshold exceedance fell by a factor 4; for nitrogen dioxide, the concentrations were lowered by several dozen μg/m³ and the exposed population fell by a factor 2; whereas for ozone, we noted a slight increase in the concentration and the exposed population. At the same time as the implementation of the newly developed emergency measures, the evolution of knowledge and modelling shows that it would be technically justified to differentiate the measures, pollutant by pollutant.     

Cold performance of various biodiesel fuel blends at low temperature

This study examines the cold performance of biodiesel blends in a passenger car and a light duty truck at −16 °C and −20 °C. Six different types of biodiesels derived from soybean oil, waste cooking oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil and jatropha oil were blended with different volume ratios (B5 (5 vol. % biodiesel — 95 vol. % diesel), B10 and B20). The cold filter plugging point (CFPP) and the cloud point had an effect on the startability and driveability of both the passenger car and the light duty truck. The startability and driveability of the passenger car with all biodiesel blends (B5) were generally good at −20 °C. In the light duty truck, biodiesel blends (B10 and B20) of soybean, waste cooking, rapeseed and jatropha tended to be good at −20 °C in the startability and driveability tests than the biodiesel blends (B10 and B20) of cottonseed and palm. In particular, the palm biodiesel blend (B10) failed at −20 °C, and the palm biodiesel blend (B20) also failed at −16 °C in the startability test. The cold flow properties of biodiesel dictate that the length of the hydrocarbon chains and the presence of unsaturated structures significantly affect the low temperature properties of biodiesel.     

Relationship between occupant injury and the perturbation mark on the velocity indicator on a cluster panel

A perturbation mark is occasionally produced on the velocity indicator of the cluster panel of a vehicle during a vehicle collision. This mark can be used to estimate the velocity of the vehicle at the moment of the vehicle’s impact. In this study, the effect of the impact velocity and the deceleration of the vehicle on the perturbation mark were investigated, and an analysis of the driver’s injury was also conducted through a numerical pulse representation and computer simulations. Sled and pendulum tests were used to replicate the conditions that produce a perturbation mark on the velocity indicator of a cluster panel. It was verified that a higher peak acceleration is more likely than the impact velocity to cause a perturbation mark. According to the computer simulation results, a driver’s injury could be more severe at higher peak accelerations with a constant impact velocity. If a perturbation mark, which can be used to estimate the impact velocity, is found while investigating a vehicle accident, this mark reveals that the acceleration was higher than that listed in the related crash report. Therefore, the injuries of the occupants could be more serious than those expected at the reported impact velocity.     

Comparison of the optimum designs of center pillar assembly of an auto-body between conventional steel and ahss with a simplified side impact analysis

This study compares the optimum designs of center pillar assembly with advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) to that of conventional steel for crashworthiness and weight reduction in side impacts. A simplified side impact analysis method was used to simulate the crash behavior of the center pillar assembly with efficient computing time. Thickness optimization aims to perform an S-shaped deformation of the center pillar toward the cabin to reduce the injury level of a driver in a crash test. Center pillar members were regarded as an assembly of parts that are fabricated with tailor-welded blanks, and the thickness of each part was selected as a design variable. The thickness variables of parts that have significant effects on the deformation mechanism were extracted as the main design variables for thickness optimization based on the results of a sensitivity analysis with design of experiments. The optimization condition was constructed to induce an S-shaped deformation mode and reduce the weight of the center pillar assembly. An optimum design was obtained after several iterations with response surface methodology (RSM). Optimization was first performed with conventional steel and then with AHSS with the same procedure to optimize the crashworthiness of the center pillar assembly. After thickness optimization, optimum designs were applied to the full vehicle analysis to evaluate the validity of the optimization scheme with the simplified side impact analysis method. Then, the crashworthiness of optimum designs with conventional steel and AHSS were compared using the full vehicle analysis. This comparison demonstrates that AHSS can be more effectively utilized than conventional steel to obtain a lightweight design of an auto-body with enhanced crashworthiness.     

正面碰撞设计中约束系统优化工况选择

2012版C-NCAP碰撞工况中的40％偏置碰撞的试验速度由56km／h提升至64km／h,而100％刚性壁正碰仍保持50km／h．两者之间巨大的速度差,使约束系统的匹配变得更加困难。文章通过分析2款轿车和1款运动型乘用车的碰撞工况,采用仿真和台车试验的手段对乘员约束系统进行优化设计,使车辆碰撞安全性能得到优化。指出按乘员伤害值、约束系统能耗密度及能耗功率大小选定最坏碰撞模式,依此设定约束系统参数,在另一碰撞模式中加以验证的约束系统设计方法。     

An exploratory investigation of the impact of ramp metering on driver acceleration behavior

Ramp metering has been proven as an effective freeway management strategy; however, the impact of ramp metering on drivers' acceleration behavior has not been fully investigated. A better understanding of acceleration behavior changes with ramp metering is critical to the adequate design of ramp metering facilities. In this study, drivers' speed and acceleration data were collected at two representative metered ramps in Los Angeles, California. The speed and acceleration profiles under meter-on and meter-off scenarios were compared. Statistical results demonstrated that ramp metering affects drivers' acceleration behavior at ramp acceleration lane. It was found that at the metered ramp with short existing acceleration length, the average acceleration rate from ramp meter stop bar to 500 ft downstream under meter-on scenario (4.72 ft./s²) is approximately 40% higher than when meter-off (3.18 ft./s²). The design of acceleration lane length for metered on-ramps should therefore take into account the potential impacts of ramp metering on driver acceleration behavior.