A Response Surface Based Tool for Evaluating Vehicle Performance in the Pedestrian Leg Impact Test

An interactive tool for predicting the performance of vehicle designs in the pedestrian leg impact test has been developed. This tool allows users to modify the design of a vehicle front structure through the use of a graphical interface, and then evaluates the performance of the design with a response surface. This performance is displayed in the graphical interface, providing the user with nearly instantaneous feedback to his design changes. An example is shown that demonstrates how the tool can be used to help guide the user towards vehicle designs that are likely to improve performance.

As part of the development of this tool, a simplified, parametric finite element model of the front structure of the vehicle was created. This vehicle model included eleven parameters that could be adjusted to change the structural dimensions and structural behavior of the model. It has been demonstrated that when these eleven parameters are set to match the actual dimensions and structural behavior of a vehicle, the simplified model will give results that are very similar to detailed finite element simulations of the vehicle. Next, a Latin Hypercube DOE was used to create a multitude of vehicle designs with varying values of these design parameters. Simulations of these vehicle designs were performed, and the results were used to build a Kriging response surface. This response surface was then incorporated into the graphical interface tool to serve as the computation engine to evaluate proposed designs.