Crashworthiness Analysis to Evaluate the Performance of TDM-Shielded Street Poles Using FEA

Abstract

The mitigation of the risks of passenger injuries when a vehicle is involved in a collision with a street pole shielded with a layer of tire-derived material (TDM) was assessed. This can effectively absorb a fraction of the total energy from a speeding vehicle. Since such tests are expensive to conduct experimentally, the study relies on using the Abaqus/Explicit FEA solver to accurately calculate the non-linear nature of this scenario. Two categories of this scenario were evaluated to understand the effect a shielded street pole has on the vehicle—and the total absorbed energies during frontal and corner collisions, which are typically the most common categories of such accidents to happen. Results show that at lower speeds, these reinforcements are least effective in absorbing some of the kinetic energy applied by the vehicle, with about 5% of the energy absorbed by the reinforcement. At higher speeds, however, the results show that the TDM reinforcement absorbs about 28% of kinetic energy, which can reduce injury of the vehicle occupants, as well as decrease the damage on poles. Results for this simulation also show that there is a critical thickness of TDM that can absorb these kinetic energies, after which further thicknesses results in energies being applied back to the vehicle, therefore negating any purpose to further increase TDM thicknesses.