ECE-533: ACTIVE AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY

SYSTEMS

AIRBAG DEPLOYMENT
LOGIC AND SIDE-IMPACT
SENSING SIMULATION
INSTRUCTOR:
DR. SRIDHAR LAKSHMANAN
PAVULURI

PRESENTED BY:
MANU PRATEEK
SIDDARTHA RAGALA
SAINATH REDDY

NARAYANAGARI

OCCUPANT SAFETY
How to help people?
Protecting people is the primal objective of occupant safety
innovation.

Depending on vehicle, safety aspects differ.

Sensors in a versatile way.
These days vehicles come with passive methods in addition
to active methods.

AIRBAGS
Occupant Restraint System
Inflates Rapidly during a collision
Provides energy absorbing surface between vehicles
occupant and its mounting location

Present in multiple positions and around the vehicle

Deployed based upon the impact level

THE INFLATION PROCESS

Air bags inflate after an electric current from the air bag control module is sent to a
detonator.

This ignition starts a chemical reaction producing nitrogen gas which rapidly inflates
the nylon fabric air bag.

After full deployment, as the occupant impacts and compresses the air bag, the
nitrogen gas is released through small vent holes.

The holes are specifically sized and spaced to reduce the volume of the bag at
different rates, depending on the type of vehicle.

The gas is released along with dust particles from material used to lubricate the bag

AIRBAG DEPLOYMENT LOGIC - PREVIOUS

DEPLOYMENT LOGIC - NEW

THE PARAMETERS
Deployment systems generally use electronic sensors that continuously report a
vehicles acceleration to an air bag control module.

The modules utilize complex algorithms to make air bag deployment decisions based
on one or more kinematic variables.

Due to the proprietary nature of air bag deployment algorithms, the velocity,
acceleration, or displacement thresholds for air bag deployment during a collision are
not easily obtained.

Instead, a range of impact velocity, deceleration, or displacement threshold values

can be calculated (based on vehicle stiffness-to-weight ratios) and used to estimate
when an air bag should or should not deploy in a collision.

AIRBAG SIMULATIONS
An approach by considering the structural equations of
motion for airbag fabric dynamics

Euler equations of fluid motion for fluid inside the airbag and
a coupling algorithm that defines the dependence between
two systems of equations

Simulation carried out using Finite Element analysis and

volumetric geometry

SIDE-IMPACT SENSING

VEHICLE MODEL
Velocity correlations at the SDM (Sensing and Diagnostic
Module) and SIS (Side Impact Sensors) locations of the
original model were not conducted as it was specifically built
to evaluate occupant and structural performances only.

Intruding velocity at mid-section and B-pillar were correlated

and were reasonably good.

The intruding velocity at these locations has significant

effects on occupant injury as since the impact is directly
imposed on the occupant.

CO-RELATION FACTOR AT 25 MPH

SIDE IMPACT SIMULATIONS

The original vehicle model was built to evaluate occupant
performance and structural integrity in a side impact and we
modified it for side impact sensing simulations.

The model was subject to various collisions such as 90

degree car-to-car collision at low speed, mid-range speed and
high speed.

Rear lateral pole, side pole and also car-to-car (150 degrees
and 30 degrees) test results have been captured

SIMULATION PARAMETERS AND OUTPUT

FEA MODEL-FINAL VS BASELINE

CONCLUSION
The modelling techniques for building a high fidelity side sensing vehicle
FE model were presented to simulate a suite of side impact tests and
corresponding results.

With the development of such modelling capability, calibration can be

conducted much earlier than the integration phase.

Also, deployment of side impact sensors as indicated in the Finite Element

model can be very useful and can bring down the fatality and injury rate
corresponding from side-impact vehicle accidents by many folds.

Thank You