Development of a Survival Cell in a Road Bus Structure Submitted to Frontal Impact

The behavior of mechanical structures subject to impacts is a topic of great relevance, being one of the main themes of study applications in the scope of vehicle collisions. In the specific case of bus body structures, standards require tests to be carried out, which are often costly, and in some cases, do not allow to correctly assess the behavior of the structure when it is subjected to a real impact scenario. The evaluation of the safety of the occupants of this type of vehicle is extremely important and must be studied. In this context, the present work studied the behavior of a road bus structure subjected to a frontal crash impact against a rigid wall. In a first moment this paper studied the integrity of the current bus body structure, and subsequently, mechanisms for energy absorption were increased in order to idealize a survival cell for the bus driver. In addition, a study was carried out on the deceleration levels in passengers and the driver, based on the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS 208), which assesses the effects of this phenomena on the human body. The results obtained show an increase in the energy absorption of the proposed structure to absorb impact by 30%, which allowed the production of a survival cell for the driver of approximately 800 mm. The deceleration limits are within the standard FMVSS 208 for this type of vehicle.