Testing Program for Crashworthiness Assessment of Cutaway Buses

Abstract

The State of Florida acquires over 300 cutaway buses every year. The increasing popularity of such buses raised concerns about passenger safety and overall crashworthiness of this transportation mode. An extensive research program was initiated at Crashworthiness and Impact Analysis Laboratory (CIAL) to facilitate experimental testing and computational mechanics as two integral parts for crashworthiness evaluation of the cutaway buses. The major objective of the evaluation program is to ensure that bus structures perform well during actual accidents, especially rollovers. Multi-level testing program includes testing of: small samples for material characterization, larger passenger compartment connections, impact testing of wall panels, as well as full scale roll-over and side impact tests of the inspected vehicles. Due to dynamic nature of rollover accidents, the program was originally based on dynamic testing. However, further research led to introduction of several simpler yet equivalent, quasi-static tests. Testing data is also used to support verification and validation of detailed finite element models of the buses, which are developed for LS-DYNA—an explicit, non-linear finite element solver. The program was well received by cutaway bus industry and it resulted in strong commitment and collaboration with bus manufacturers.