Modeling of Modified Vehicle Crashworthiness using a Double Compound Pendulum

Vehicle crash modeling has been a challenge for researchers for several decades. Occupant injury prevention and prediction is a critical area within vehicle safety design. The modeling of material failure in structural members during a full frontal crash has been presented in this paper. This study presents a Lumped Parameter Model (LPM) with an elastic double compound pendulum replicating the impact kinematics. The model defined using Lagrangian formulation; presents a novel methodology to represent material fracture caused due to heat affected zones or welding in Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS) in a non-linear crash event. The material fracture leads to rotation of the vehicle; presented in the form of torsional springs in the LPM developed in this study. The Simulink model has been validated with a finite element simulation and shows good correlation to predict parameters crucial to design for occupant protection in a vehicle crash.