Research on the Behavior of a Passenger Car in JRS Virtual Testing

The Jordan Rollover System (JRS) is a dynamic test rig designed by the Centre for Injury Research (CFIR) to reconstruct real world vehicle rollover crashes. Its accuracy in predicting the real accident injury potential to belted occupants in the front seats has yet to be validated. This paper shows, numerically using finite element modelling of the JRS and vehicle, the important characteristics in terms of roof intrusion and overall kinetic characteristics. The vehicle model is based on the Bolton Automotive & Aerospace Research Group (BAARG) state-of-the-art Ford Fiesta developed in LS-DYNA 3D code as a public domain research tool. Both the JRS and the Ford Fiesta models were optimised and coupled in view of facilitating the evaluation, which included the validation of simulation results with roof crush test data. To further investigate the kinematic characteristics and roof crush profiles, a virtual model and analysis was conducted at a baseline condition with respect to roll angle, pitch angle, speed of moving roadbed, angular velocity of the testing vehicle and drop height of the vehicle. Results show that numerical models of the JRS can be used to reconstruct real world rollover crashes using virtual testing, hence reducing the cost for carrying out physical tests.