Simplified FE Simulation of Frontal Occupant Restraint Systems

A biofidelic flexible pedestrian legform impactor (Flex-PLI) has been developed by Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JAMA) and Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI). The Flex-PLI has good biofidelity as well as several knee ligament elongation measurement capabilities, three femur and four tibia bending moment measurement capabilities. For these reasons Flex-PLI is likely to be used for future pedestrian Global Technical Regulation. This paper introduces a finite element model of the Flex-PLI type GT for LS-DYNA and compares a full vehicle Flex-GT impact simulation with test. A very accurate vehicle model is needed to predict Flex- PLI injuries. In this paper, a detailed and correlated vehicle model was used. The Type GT is the 5th version of Flex-PLI and has almost the same structure and performance as final design type GTR. The Flex-PLI type GT LS-DYNA model was carefully created to ensure every important detail was included. Geometries, masses and material properties of all parts were reproduced from drawings and inspection of the real components. Connectivity and component interaction within the model was determined by thorough experiments. Accurate prediction of injury indices and kinematic behaviour was achieved by correlation to static and dynamic calibration tests. A fine mesh was used but reasonable calculation cost assured by imposing an analysis time step of 0.9 micro seconds.

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