New Simulation Methodology for Improved Visual Interaction between Physical Test and CAE in Seat Anchorage Test

For effective occupant protection, automotive vehicle structure needs to be developed for seat anchorage test to prevent the failure of seat anchorages during high speed impacts. Seat anchorages (SA) certification test is mandatory for M & N category vehicles in India.

Conventional way of testing automotive vehicle structures for seat anchorage test is using deceleration sled with the help of bungee ropes. Deceleration pulse generated from the physical test is used as a loading input in the current CAE process. With the current CAE method, final deformation of the vehicle structure looks similar to physical test, however, the vehicle visual interactions differ significantly during the deformation event. In the current study, a modified loading methodology is proposed to match both the final deformation as well as vehicle visual interactions. Loading and boundary conditions of physical test were understood in detail with the help of simple free body diagrams. A joint definition of initial velocity and deceleration pulse is used as input loading in the FE model to match vehicle visual interactions throughout the deformation event. The results of improved process were verified with the results of existing CAE process for final deformations and also overall vehicle visual interactions showed good correlation with physical test. This purposed CAE methodology was verified on vehicles from different platform and is validated with physical tests.