Energy-absorbing FUPDs and their interactions with fronts of passenger cars

Abstract

Structural and in-depth analyses of the crash accidents between heavy goods vehicles and passenger cars showed that the front underrun protective device (FUPD), obeying the Economic Commission for Europe Regulation No. 93, is not sufficient to protect the passenger cars from overriding by heavy goods vehicles in all expected traffic situations. This is based on the expectation that an FUPD will mitigate the severity of these accidents. The unpredictable behaviour of a car during frontal collisions has been identified as a central issue to resolve for FUPD development and testing. On the basis of the findings from the in-depth accident analysis, a simulation matrix was designed and simulations between a passenger car model and a model of FUPD with energy-absorbing elements were run. The goal of the simulations was to understand the theoretical possibilities for energy-absorbing FUPDs and identify some of the critical structural requirements needed to improve frontal crash protection. An analysis of the simulation results showed that a properly activated FUPD with energy-absorbing elements can decrease the severity of the crash by absorbing more than 30% of the total kinetic energy. It was found that the force needed to activate the deformation of FUPD energy-absorbing elements can be used to improve the deformation mode of the car front structure in such a way as to decrease the crash severity.