Simulation on Impact Collision of Multi-Purpose Vehicles

Abstract

Crash worthiness is considered as one of the main aspect of vehicle structure design which is directly related to the safety of the vehicle. Rigorous design standards need to be fulfilled by automotive manufacturers especially the one related to the design of vehicle structure. Crash test is a well-known method that has been used to determine the impact performance of vehicle structure. This paper investigates the frontal impact performance during collisions of multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) equipped with natural gas vehicle (NGV) system and MPV without NGV by using Finite Element Analysis. Both vehicles are modeled and the test procedure is simulated to represent a full-width frontal crash at the speed of 80 kilometers per hour and distance of 2.5 m between the MPV and the static barrier. Static barrier, MPV frame structures and finite element models are designed and simulated by using ABAQUS software. Simulation results revealed greater damage and higher value of absorbed energy for the vehicle structure of MPV equipped with NGV compared to MPV without the NGV system. The highest deformation of vehicle structure was also recorded for MPV equipped with NGV system. These findings showed that the vehicle equipped with NGV system produced higher momentum due to the increased of vehicle’s weight, hence caused greater impact damage on the vehicle structure compared to the vehicle without the NGV system.