| dc.description.abstract | Over the past few years, the public has become more aware of the number of accidents involving storefronts and pedestrians. To counteract this, protective devices are being installed to prevent errant vehicles from impacting these objects, and in order to ensure the adequacy of the protective devices, full-scale crash tests are often required. Reducing the overall cost for these tests is necessary in order to minimize the cost of these protective barriers. ASTM F3016 recommends using a reusable surrogate vehicle to replace a full-sized pickup truck that meet the requirements of MASH 2,270P. The primary objective of this thesis was to design a surrogate vehicle which can be used in full-scale tests in order to meet the ASTM F3016 standard. The secondary objective was to use non-linear finite element analysis software to validate the structural frame of the surrogate vehicle.
The surrogate vehicle design was divided into three key areas of interest. The first was the general aspects of the surrogate vehicle. The requirements of both ASTM F3016 and MASH 2,270P were analyzed and incorporated when designing the surrogate vehicle. The second area of interest was the global force-deformation response of the surrogate vehicle. To ensure realistic levels of force that were exerted on the protective device, a full-scale crash test of a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 Pickup Truck impacting a near-rigid instrumented pier was performed by Texas A&M Transportation Institute. The stiffness of the vehicle was then used to determine the force-deformation response of the surrogate vehicle. This response was obtained by using linear compression springs. The final area of interest was the capacity of the structural frame of the surrogate vehicle. The frame was designed using a static finite element modeling software. The final frame design was then used in a non-linear finite element model to determine if any member of the frame reached the yielding stress.
Combining the general aspects, the force-deformation response, and the structural frame of the surrogate vehicle would allow for an accurate model of a full-scale crash test. This surrogate vehicle can then be used in product validation tests for new protective devices. | en |
