Automatic Barrier Positioning for Various Regulations Enhancing CAE Productivity

Each day many drivers and passengers die due to car accidents. The risk of death is higher or lower depending on the car and even further on the car model. Vehicle models differ widely in many ways; with respect to safety ranking values large cars like minivans, SUV, pickup tracks compete smaller and midsize cars. The most important characteristics of vehicles influencing injury rates are vehicle design, size, weight and the combination of different restraint systems. Among these physical criteria national organizations for automotive safety define local requirements for their legal regulations varying from region to region. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) regulates requirements for the US market whereas the European automobile manufacturers have to follow the EuroNCAP regulations. Worldwide safety organizations create their local regulations based on regional driver behavior and geographical conditions. European car customers are very much aware of the meaning of safety applications in cars. Vehicle safety became a more and more important factor within the purchase decision process of end customers, who appreciate buying cars with top ranking results for the car’ safety features. Thus given, any publication of EuroNCAP testing results and the related result comparison of various vehicle models and their performance play a major role for the OEM’S to market their cars. Even the immediate selling success depends strongly on the car’s safety results based on the regulations of the various regulatory boards. Releasing vehicles satisfying safety requirements in all different regional markets with just one car model is not an easy, but time consuming and therewith costly task for OEM’s today. Each car model has to pass many crash tests, load cases and simulation runs have to fulfill the different regional safety requirements and regulations. Simulation of crash tests as explained by the regulatory boards also require positioning of various barriers in numerous positions. This is a very humongous task if done manually.