Investigation of the Major Factors Influencing Front Compatibility Design of Vehicles

Many papers have been written on the influence of vehicle structures interacting against each other in car-to-car accidents. Research has determined the major factors which influence occupant survivability in front crashes as being:

• Geometric interaction
• Stiffness
• Mass

However, the influence of each individual factor is not well understood.

Design of Experiments (DOE) techniques, of which the most generally known are those of Taguchi, can be combined with Finite Element (FE) analysis to provide a powerful tool to allow the investigation and understanding of the above compatibility issues. Public domain FE models of the Ford Taurus have been used as a basis of this analysis. The preliminary results of the investigation are reported in this paper.

The investigation of a number of variables within the DOE model has allowed a greater understanding of the behaviour in incompatible vehicle structures. The knowledge gained from this study will allow better design for compatibility in future crashworthiness vehicle structures.