Design and simulation of automotive plastic pillars for occupant protection

Abstract

Occupant safety is a major concern in today’s automotive industry. Recent standards (e.g. FMVSS-201) impose specific requirements to plastic components used in automotive interiors, which have to afford impact protection for occupants, namely against head impact. The design criteria require head injury criteria (HIC)(d),1000 and a deceleration lower than 180 g (1 g59.81 m s22), in order to avoid severe occupant head injuries. The plastic components are therefore required to act as passive safety components. In the present work, the impact of an anthropomorphic mass in a plastic pillar is simulated by a finite element code (ABAQUS). The polymer properties are obtained at high strain rates and described by an elasto–plastic model, being adopted as a maximum allowable strain failure criterion. The contacts between the mass, the plastic component and the steel chassis are considered and a deceleration–time plot and a HIC(d) value computed. Several pillar geometries are tested using numerical simulations in order to meet the standards’ requirements.