Better vehicle design can lessen the impact of severe crashes. In these accidents, harm to occupants can be prevented or mitigated by effective vehicle and highway design. Vehicle design includes the vehicle structure as well as safety measures like airbags and seatbelts. Highway design, including roadside hardware, also has an important impact on the severity of crashes.

Crashworthiness design refers to the process of improving these safety-related structures. Recent advances in computer technology allow the designs to be tested with computer simulation as opposed to expensive crash tests. The new crash simulation tools form the basis for an iterative process for safer vehicle and highway design. First, a model of vehicle and highway structures is used for crash simulation. The iterative process consists of vehicle and highway structure redesign, followed by additional crash simulations.

In spite of recent developments of crash simulation tools, this iterative process involves extremely high computational costs that limit its effectiveness. The crash analysis and simulation process is computationally intensive. Furthermore, determining which of the many number of parameters to adjust during the redesign process is an intractable problem. The research at CISR focuses on solving this problem by integrating computer simulation codes with numerical optimization methods.

 

Related Recent Publications

Kurtaran H., Büyük M., Eskandarian A. (2004) “Design Automation of a Laminated Armor for Best Impact Performance Using Approximate Optimization Method”, Int. Journal of Impact Engineering special issue, Volume 29, 1-10.

Eskandarian, A., Bahouth, G., Digges, K., Godrick, D., Bronstad, M. (2004) "Improving the Compatibility of Vehicles and Roadside Safety Hardware" Transportation Research Record (NCHRP Document 61), February 2004.

Eskandarian, A., Chen, Y., Oskard, M. and Lee, J.D. (2003) “Meshless Analyses of Fracture, Plasticity and Impact”, Proceedings of IMECE’03 2003 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, Washington, D.C., November 16-21.

Chen, Y., Eskandarian, A., Oscard, M.S. and Lee, J.D. (2003) “Meshless analysis of plasticity with application to crack growth problems”, Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, in press.

Chen, Y., Lee, J.D. and Eskandarian, A. (2002) “Local and Nonlocal Meshless Method of Fracture Mechanics”, Proceedings of International Conference of Computational Engineering and Science, July 29 –Aug. 2, Reno, Nevada.

Yonten, K., Manzari, M., and Eskandarian, A., and Marzougui, D. (2002) “An Evaluation of Constitutive Models of Concrete in LS-DYNA Finite Element Code,” Proceedings of 15th ASCE Engineering Mechanics Conference, Columbia Univ., New York, N.Y., June 2-5, CD ROM, pp. 1-8.

C.D. Kan, Eskandarian, A., and Mader, J. (2002) “Evaluation and Benchmark of High Performance Computer Platforms for Automotive Crashworthiness Simulation,” accepted for presentation and publication in High Performance Computing Conference, September 22-27, Italy.

Omar, T.A., Bedewi, N.E., and Eskandarian, A. (2002) “Significant Severity Reduction of Side-Impact Injuries by using ITS-airbag FE Simulation and Severity Analysis,” accepted for presentation and publication in the Proc. of the ASME Winter Annual Meeting, International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Transportation Safety Session, New Orleans, LA, November 17-22, 2002.

Chen, Y., Eskandarian, A., Kan, C.D., and Lee, J.D. (2002) “Thermo-plastic effects on structural behavior during crush and impact,” International Journal of Vehicle Design, Vol. 30, Nos. 1/2, pp. 22-32.

Noureddine, A., Eskandarian, A., and Digges, K. (2002) “Computer Modeling and Validation of a Hybrid III Dummy for Crashworthiness Simulation,” Mathematical and Computer Modeling, 35, pp. 885-893.

Kurtran, H., Eskandarian, A., Marzougui, D, and Bedewi, N.E. (2002) “Crashworthiness Design Optimization Using Successive Response Surface Approximations”, Computational Mechanics (Springer), accepted.

Ennis, J., Marzougui, D., Eskandarian, A., and Bedewi, N.E. (2001) “Finite Element Modeling of Anthropomorphic Test Devices for Vehicle Crashworthiness Evaluation,” International Journal of Crashworthiness Research, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 511-524.

Chen, Y., Lee, J.D., and Eskandarian, A. (2001) “Meshless Particle Methods for Nonlocal Continua,” published in Advances in Computational Engineering & Sciences (edited by Atluri, Nishioka and Kikuchi), Tech Science Press, presented at Proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Engineering and Science, 19-25 August 2001, Puerto Vallerta, Mexico, on CD-ROM.

Kurtaran, H., Omar, T., and Eskandarian, A. (2001) “Crashworthiness Design Optimization of Energy-Absorbing Rails for the Automotive Industry,” Proceedings of the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE2001/AMD-25452, New York, NY, November 11-16, pp. 1-12

Monclus, J.G., Eskandarian, A., Takatori, O., and Morimoto, J. (2001) “Development of Detailed Finite Element Models of Child Restraint Systems For Occupant Protection,” ESV International Technical Conference, Paper Number 01-S9-O-126, Amsterdam, Netherlands, printed from CD.

Kurtaran, H. and Eskandarian, A. (2001) "Design optimization of multi-body systems under impact loading by response surface methodology", Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part K (Journal of Mult-Body Dynamics), vol.215, no.K4, 2001, pp.173-85. Publisher: Mech. Eng. Publications, UK.

Chen, Y., Lee, J.D., Eskandarian, A., and Bedewi, N.E. (2000) “Adibatic Shear Localization in Impact problems”, International Conference of Crashworthiness, London, September 2000.

Omar, T.A., Eskandarian, A., and Bedewi, N.E. (2000) “Modeling Vehicles' Offset and Oblique Impacts Using Recurrent Artificial Neural Networks,” Proceedings of the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, AMD-Vol. 246/BED-Vol. 49, Crashworthiness, Occupant Protection, and Biomechanics in Transportation Systems, Orlando, FL, November 5-10, pp. 49-65.

Eskandarian, A., Bahouth, G., Marzougui, D., Kan, C.D. (2000) “Challenges of Finite Element Simulations of Vehicle Crashes,” Keynote Paper, 2nd Triennial International Symposium on Multi-Body Dynamics: Monitoring & Simulation Techniques, U. of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK, June 27-28, pp. 27-41.

Marzougui, D., Kan, C.D., Eskandarian, A. (2000) “Safety Performance Evaluation of Roadside Hardware Using Finite Element Simulation,” ASCE Fourteenth Engineering Mechanics Conference, Austin, Texas, June 2000. printed on CD.

Omar, T., Eskandarian, and Bedewi, N.E. (2000) “Artificial Neural Networks for Modeling Dynamics of Impacting Bodies and Vehicles”, I. Mech. E. Journal of Multi-body Dynamics, Part K, Vol. 214 No. K3. pp. 133-142.

Marzougui, D., Bahouth, G., Eskandarian, A., Meczkowski, L., and Taylor, H. (2000) "Evaluation of Portable Concrete Barriers Using Finite Element Simulation", Journal of Transportation Research, Transportation Research Record No. 1720, Paper No. 00-0501, National Academy Press 2000, pp. 1-6.