Frontal Crash Mitigation using MR Impact Damper for Controllable Bumper

Abstract

This study presents performance characteristics of a magnetorheological (MR) impact damper for controllable bumper in vehicle systems. Recently, several mechanisms are proposed in order to minimize the injury of vehicle occupants during frontal collision. One of the promising candidates is the MR fluid which undergoes significant instantaneous reversible changes in material characteristics when subjected to a magnetic field. Using this salient property, a new type of MR impact damper is devised in this work. The proposed damper is integrated with bellows to induce the flow motion and the motion is operated under flow mode. The field-dependent damping force is evaluated by computer simulation with various conditions. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed impact damper, a lumped parameter mathematical model of frontal vehicle crash system including MR impact damper is developed and realized in order to evaluate acceleration peak reductions and transmitted force in the frontal collision.

Keywords

magnetorheological fluid impact damper collision mitigation vehicle bumper.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ahmadian, M. , Appleton, R. and Norris, J.A. 2002. `` An Analytical Study of Fire out of Battery using Magnetorheological Dampers,'' Shock and Vibration, 9(3): 129 — 142 .

Elmarakbi, A.M. and Zu, J.W. 2004. `` Dynamic Modeling and Analysis of Vehicle Smart Structures for Frontal Collision Improvement,'' Int. J. of Automotive Technology, 5(4): 244 — 255 .

Jawad, S.A.W. 1996. ``Intelligent Hydraulic Bumper for Frontal Collision Mitigation,'' Crashworthiness and Occupant Protection in Transportation Systems , ASME 218:181—189.

Kamal, M. 1979. `` Vibration Analysis and Simulation of Vehicle-to-Barrier Impact ,'' SAE Transactions, 700414.

Lee, D.Y. , Choi, Y.T. and Wereley, N.M. 2002. `` Performance Analysis of ER/MR Impact Damper Systems using Herschel-Bulkley Model ,'' J. of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 13(7—8): 525—531 .

Lee, H.S. and Choi, S.B. 2000. `` Control and Response Characteristics of a Magneto-rheological Fluid Damper for Passenger Vehicles ,'' J. of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 11(1): 80—87 .

Lee, H.S. , Choi, S.B. and Lee, S.K. 2001. `` Vibration Control of a Passenger Vehicle Featuring MR Suspension Units,'' Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Eng., 11(1): 41—48 .

Mizuno, K. and Kajzer, J. 1999. `` Compatibility Problems in Frontal, Side, Single Car Collisions and Car-to-pedestrian Accidents in Japan,'' Accident Analysis Prev., 31(4): 381 — 391 .

Song, H.J. , Choi, S.B. , Kim, J.H. and Kim, K.S. 2004. `` Performance Evaluation of ER Shock Damper Subjected to Impulse Excitation ,'' J. of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 13(10): 625—628 .

10.

Wågström, L. , Thomson, R. and Pipkorn, B. 2004. `` Structural Adaptivity for Acceleration Level Reduction in Passenger Car Frontal Collisions,'' Int. J. of Crash, 9(2): 121—127 .

11.

Weaver, J.R. 1968. `` A Simple Occupant Dynamics Model,'' J. of Biomechanics, 1(3): 185—191 .

12.

Witteman, W. 1999. ``Improved Vehicle Crashworthiness Design by Control of the Energy Absorption for Different Collision Situations,'' PhD. Dissertation, Eindhoven University of Technology, Automotive Engineering & Product Design Technology, Eindhoven , Netherlands.

13.

Witteman, W. 2005. `` Adaptive Frontal Structure Design to Achieve Optimal Deceleration Pulses '' In: Proc. of the 19th Int. Technical Conf. on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV), Washington DC, USA, 05-0243.