A review of airbag test and analysis

Abstract

In recent years there have been many airbag-related injuries and fatalities. These have been due to the airbag interacting with the occupant during out-of-position (OOP) states. Numerical simulation of this situation is currently under investigation. This article reviews the mathematical models that have been developed and utilised for in-position (IP) occupant analysis, showing their capabilities in crash simulations and their inefficiency for OOP occupant interaction. The review then describes a new simulation technique, fluid structure interaction, which can possibly model the OOP occupant interaction. The capabilities of this new method are described and how it can be utilised for this type of simulation, along with recommendations of future work in this area.

Keywords:

• out-of-position
• fluid structure interaction
• control volume
• airbag simulation
• LS-DYNA
• dummy interaction