Experimental and numerical study on the crashworthiness evaluation of an intercity coach under frontal impact conditions

In this study, the energy absorption capacity of a front body of a bus during a frontal crash was investigated. The strength of the bus structure was examined by considering the ECE-R29 European regulation requirements. The nonlinear explicit finite element code LS-DYNA was used for the crash analyses. First, the baseline bus structures without any improvements were analyzed and the weak parts of the front end structure of the bus body were examined. Experimental tests are conducted to validate the finite element model. In the second stage, the bus structure was redesigned in order to strengthen the frontal body. Finally, the redesigned bus structure was compared with the baseline model to meet the requirements for ECE-R29. In addition to the redesign performed on the body, energy absorption capacity was increased by additional energy absorbers employed in the front of bus structure. This study experimentally and numerically investigated the energy absorption characteristics of a steering wheel armature in contact with a deformable mannequin during a crash. Variations in the location of impact on the armature, armature orientation, and mannequin were investigated to determine the effects of the energy absorption characteristics of the two contacting entities.