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A finite element approach in estimating driver fatality ratio of a fleet of LTVs striking a passenger car based on vehicle’s intrusion, acceleration and stiffness ratios in side-impact accidents

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Abstract

The driver fatality ratio (DFR) proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) demonstrates the relative fatality risks of occupants in various vehicle-to-vehicle (VtV) crashes. The readily available DFR is based on statistical crash data; hence, estimating the DFR of occupants for newer fleet of vehicles can be quite difficult. Three systematic methods such as the intrusion, deceleration and stiffness ratios of two colliding vehicles in side-impact accidents are proposed to estimate the DFR. A fleet of light trucks and vans (LTVs) striking a sedan car is reconstructed using the non-linear explicit code, LS-DYNA. The simulation results have shown that the intrusion and acceleration ratios-based approaches are in good agreement with the statistical DFR, whereas the DFR estimated using the stiffness-ratio based approach yielded poor agreement. The intrusion and acceleration ratios-based approaches are then utilized to formulate a combined DFR estimation model. In the second part of the study, the proposed methodology is carried further to estimate the DFR of occupants for a fleet of LTVs impacting a newer passenger car. The proposed methodology can be a viable tool for estimating the DFR for newer road vehicles and to improve its crash compatibility with collision partners.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, 67260, USA

    Y. Y. Tay, A. Papa, L. S. Koneru & H. M. Lankarani

  2. Key Safety Systems Inc., Michigan, MI, 48314, USA

    R. Moradi

Authors
  1. Y. Y. Tay
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  2. A. Papa
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  3. L. S. Koneru
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  4. R. Moradi
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  5. H. M. Lankarani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. M. Lankarani.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Chang-Wan Kim

Hamid Lankarani is a professor of mechanical engineering and a senior fellow of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. He is one of the world’s leading researchers and educators in the field of impact dynamics, automotive and aircraft crashworthiness, occupant protection, and injury biomechanics. Dr. Lankarani has directed over 300 graduate student MS theses and Ph.D. dissertations, and has been the author of over 400 articles in journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. Dr. Lankarani has served as a Technical Editor or a member of Editorial Board for several international journals, and is an ASME fellow.

Rasoul Moradi, Ph.D. is a graduate faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Wichita State University, and a Sr. Systems Engineer at Key Safety Systems, MI. His research interests include impact and crash dynamics, vehicle dynamics, automotive and aircraft crashworthiness, occupant protection, and injury biomechanics. He has worked as a chief engineer of vehicle dynamics, vehicle active safety, and homologation department for ITRAC, IKCO, Iran for about 10 years. He has also served over eight years as a Mechanical Engineering faculty at KAR University, Iran.

Yi Yang Tay earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineer at Wichita State University in 2012 and 2014. Currently, he is pursuing a career in the automotive industry as a Project Engineer at TASS International, MI. His research interests include automotive and aircraft crashworthiness, occupant protection, injury biomechanics and active safety systems.

Lakshmi Venkata Koneru pursued his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India. He obtained his Masters in Mechanical Engineering at Wichita State University, KS. Currently, he is working as a Certification Engineer for aircraft seats at PAC Seating Systems, FL.

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Tay, Y.Y., Papa, A., Koneru, L.S. et al. A finite element approach in estimating driver fatality ratio of a fleet of LTVs striking a passenger car based on vehicle’s intrusion, acceleration and stiffness ratios in side-impact accidents. J Mech Sci Technol 29, 1231–1242 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0237-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0237-4

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