Coupling Simulation of an Impact-Induced Rollover Accident and Evaluation of Curtain Airbag Effectiveness

Abstract

The causes of fatal and serious injuries in rollover accidents have yet to be fully identified. This study aimed to reconstruct a complex accident, based on both video analysis and vehicle coupling simulation. Besides, the major fatal injury causation and curtain airbag’s effectiveness were analyzed. The coupling model, including finite element tire and multi-body vehicle body, was developed to estimate the vehicle trajectory. A validated curtain airbag (CAB) module, was introduced for occupant protection effectiveness evaluation. The vehicle trajectory from the simulation correlated well with that from video recordings and simulation result indicated that passenger’s head contact with road (maximum contact force 9834.9[Formula: see text]N) was assumed to be the main reason of the victim death. After introducing the CAB, the maximum head acceleration was reduced from 129.1[Formula: see text]g to 24.9[Formula: see text]g, and the neck Fz was reduced by 80.0% as well. The coupling simulation method turned out to be efficient to reconstruct certain complex accident case. Such study is beneficial for further similar accident reconstruction and restraint system evaluation.