Simulations of Vehicle Dynamics during Rollover

摘要

The capability to predictively simulate vehicle rollover dynamics using the Articulated Total Body (ATB) model was developed and validated using the results of two controlled automobile rollover crash tests. The vehicle was modeled as a single rigid body with vehicle contact surfaces approximated by (hyper)ellipsoids. Appropriate vehicle mass, center of mass, rotational inertial properties, initial conditions, and the interactive geometry between the vehicle and the crash environment were specified. The events simulated were a multiple crash/rollover in which a vehicle was induced to roll by a ramped guardrail and a rollover which was initiated by an active rollover test device developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The results of these computer simulations were compared with high-speed film coverage of the tests using computer graphics images of the predicted vehicle positions.