Reduction in Intrusion of B-Pillar in Side Impact using Advanced High Strength Steel Components

Car crash is a common phenomenon and is difficult to avoid but the occupants can be protected. It is estimated that 25% of the deaths due to accidents in USA are because of side crash and among these fatalities due to brain injury is predominant. The brain injury in side crash is attributed to the intrusion of B-Pillar inside passenger cabin beyond permissible limits. Proper design of key components in side crash and use of apt material will help to meet the safety standards. The present work focuses on the reduction of B-Pillar intrusion using advanced high strength steel components with an aim to minimize the head injury in side crash. In the present numerical simulation, side crash is simulated for Ford Taurus car model as per Insurance Institute of Highway Safety standards using Non-linear Explicit Transient Dynamic FE Tool to analyse the vehicle's structural response. For this a finite element model of the impacting barrier is modelled using HyperMesh tool and is validated with literature results. Then crash pulse obtained from the driver side of the car is subjected to the sled model in Multibody Dynamics tool for predicting the head injury of the driver. Various design modifications were implemented for solving the safety issues identified in Ford Taurus car model. Among the various designs, the use of advanced high strength steel for roof bow and B-Pillar helped in solving the roof collapse problem along with reduced B-Pillar intrusion by 28.31%. This enhanced the structural rating of the car from Marginal to Acceptable. The design modifications not only helped in solving the structural problem but it also helped in bringing down the head injury levels substantially by 7.89%.