Abstract
Keywords: development, measurement, crash, simulation, validation
The amount of information acquired from crash tests is still rising. Considering the cost of a prototype vehicle and the shortened time dedicated for new model development, there is a comprehensive effort to maximise the data volume obtained from the output of a test. With the increasing complexity of car design there have arisen new requirements for experiments, namely as a support of computer simulations. The use of virtual procedures has therefore become an integral part of car development, with experimental data consequently having a new destination: Besides the traditional direct use for the evaluation of the development process, they are being used as a support of virtual prototyping within the computer model's creation and validation.
This contribution deals with the advanced measurement procedures that enable us to provide the virtual prototyping with competent data from the testing. The approach is based on the collection of suitable physical quantities measurements (displacement, force, stress) and video shots recording within the crash test. The measurement of the vehicle parts displacement within the frontal crash is important to determine their reciprocal positions and possible collisions. This could also be supported by the estimation of contact times. Procedures for the measurement of structural stress and the estimation of the time of substructure collapse are described. The possibilities and limitations of the rotating parts stress measurement are also presented. An important part of the contribution is devoted to the measurement of the contact load distribution within both side and rear impact crash tests using the load cell trolley. The challenges solved during the project of the load measurement trolley development as well as the advantages and limitations of the selected solution are discussed in this contribution. The advantage of this approach is the shortening of mathematical models creation and validation process. The benefit of the advanced crash test measurement methods for the computing procedures within the car development is documented using the specific examples from the vehicle virtual development.