Lumped mass-spring model construction for crash analysis using full frontal impact test data

Lumped Mass-Spring (LMS) model is simple but very effective for the design study of vehicle crashworthiness and occupant safety. To construct the LMS model, the SISAME software and the NHTSA test data were used. Using the SISAME, the weights of mass elements and the load-paths of spring elements were optimally and directly extracted from the test data. Among the various types of spring, the segmented inelastic type of spring was effective for the vehicle crash analysis. In this study, to obtain the occupant injuries such as HIC15 and 3 ms Chest g’s, the LMS model containing the occupant model consisted of the head, chest and pelvis was developed and validated. The modeling for the chest deflection and neck injuries was not considered in this study because of the modeling difficulties and the limitation of the SISAME software. The simulation results of occupants showed good agreements with the test results. The modeling idea for the occupant was simple but very effective.