Abstract
Keywords: truck, cab, safety, pendulum, FEM
A structure which will offer a good protection in traffic accidents must to be almost non deformable under the action of accidents exceptional loads. In order to make more safety cars is very important to predict the impact behaviour of the body structure. Standardized testing for passive safety is often computer simulated but, legally, some experimental testing is demanded.
This paper presents a simulation of the front impact on the upper corner of the cab that is made with a pendulum which hit the structure. The geometric model was developed starting from a real truck structure composed by two parts (the chassis frame and the cab) connected by a mounting system with springs and dampers. The analytical model of the truck presented in this paper includes its main subassemblies and the mounting systems that connect them.
FE method allows making deformable models of the body structure, models very useful to study the impact behavior. For good results is important to consider nonlinear materials for the body structure. The paper will present some results concerning this frontal crash simulation.
The method can be used for any test which must be performed using a pendulum with certain impact energy.