SIMULATION AND TESTING OF A SUITE OF FIELD RELEVANT ROLLOVERS. IN: OCCUPANT AND VEHICLE RESPONSES IN ROLLOVERS

In order to understand the mechanism of automotive rollover and thus to develop any potential countermeasures for occupant protection, efficient and repeatable laboratory tests are necessary. This chapter on the simulation and testing of a suite of field relevant rollovers is from a comprehensive textbook on occupant and vehicle responses in rollovers. The authors note that it is not easy or intuitive to estimate the necessary initial and boundary conditions for such tests (to ensure repeatability). The authors report on their study in which math tools were used in three phases: initial guidance to the testing through simple rigid body models; the results of those model were used to validate more detailed and complex models; and the use of the more detailed models for parametric studies in a potential predictive manner. The authors provide the description and methodology for nine laboratory tests. The type and applicability of the models for various tests are described along with their level of complexity. The authors discuss the potential ability to use simplified models to optimize the test conditions such that desired vehicle kinematics can be achieved with minimal trial-and-error in full-scale rollover testing.