Enhanced Finite Element Analysis Crash Model of Tractor-Trailers: Website and User's Manual (Phase B)

摘要

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) has established four major safety areas of concern for vehicle accidents most likely to cause injuries and fatalities: 1) lane change, 2) run-off-road, 3) rear-end clearance, and 4) intersections. This project focuses on technology developments to address run-off-road scenarios in which heavy trucks impact roadside barriers and other infrastructure elements. While much progress has been made over the past 15 years in analyzing the causes and effects of run-off-road accidents, much more information should be gathered, particularly for the heavy-vehicle mode of transportation. Selective computer analyses, together with limited field tests, are now being used to qualify roadside safety hardware. The objective of this project is to evaluate, enhance and validate computer models of a heavy vehicle (tractor-semitrailer combination) that will be used in the design, and evaluation of roadside safety hardware. The NTRCI Finite Element Crash Analysis Team of Battelle, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK) is continuing its efforts on enhancement and validation of the National Crash Analysis Center's (NCAC) Tractor-Trailer Finite Element Model (FEM) (V01B - BetaVersion) in a 3-yr program that started in 2007.