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Design, Analysis and Testing of Inflatable Restraint System for Transit Bus Operators
Technical Paper
2011-26-0092
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Event:
SIAT 2011
Language:
English
Abstract
Public transportation system and specifically transit bus systems are key element of the national transportation network in United States. Buses are one of the safest forms of transportation. Nonetheless, bus crashes resulting in operator injuries and fatalities do occur. According to National Transportation Statistics from 1990-2002, the number of transit motor buses in the U.S. has increased by 30% [1]. The majority of fatal crashes involving transit buses result from frontal crashes which could be fatal for bus operators. Therefore, crashworthiness research is a continuing effort. Research has been performed to analyze and improve the safety of transit bus operators.
This paper describes the design, analysis and testing of an inflatable restraint system for a bus operator. At present a three point restraint is the only safety feature implemented on transit buses. The primary objective was to study the level of safety provided by the present safety system. To do this a physical environment of a bus operator compartment was manufactured and this was tested using a 50th percentile and a 95th percentile ATD for 18mph frontal impact condition. Acceleration pulse for the sled testing was obtained from a validated finite element model of a typical transit bus [2]. A finite element model of the operator compartment was generated and validated against the test results. This model was used as base line to design the inflatable restraint. A multibody model was created for the same using multibody code MADYMO to run design of experiment to optimize the inflatable restraint system. After achieving a satisfactory design, prototypes were manufactured for further validation of the design. Sled tests were conducted as per the test plan generated based on the simulation results. Results for present design and new design were compared to find the improvement on the level of safety.
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Citation
Yadav, V. and Olivares, G., "Design, Analysis and Testing of Inflatable Restraint System for Transit Bus Operators," SAE Technical Paper 2011-26-0092, 2011, https://doi.org/10.4271/2011-26-0092.Also In
References
- Moore, C “National Transportation Statistics, Bureau of Transportation Statistic” U.S. Department of Transportation Washington DC 20590 2005
- Olivares, G “Transit Bus Crashworthiness: Finite Element Modeling and Validation” International Crashworthiness Conference Athens, Greece July 4-7 2006
- Olivares, G Hermann, T “Mass Transit Bus Crashworthiness: Statistical Data Analysis” Phase I Report to Federal Transit Administration FTA-0002” Wichita, KS December 2005
- Anon “Standard Bus Procurement Guidelines - 30-foot Low-floor Diesel Buses” American Public Transportation Association 2002
- Anon. “LS-Dyna Reference Manual”, Version 971 May 2007
- Anon. “MADYMO Theory Manual”, Version 6.3 December 2005