Effect of Mechanical Properties of Fabrics on Impact Force: Impact Force when Airbag Inflates at High Speed II

The promise of airbags for crew protection when automobiles collide has been realized. However, an airbag inflating at high speed impacts an occupant with great force. Impact force when airbag inflates at high speed is simulated by a nonlinear FEM combined with an incremental method, where the sample is modeled as an elastic membrane. An experiment was conducted to verify the theory and this calculation method. Good agreement was obtained between the theoretical and the experimental values of two type fabric samples. This demonstrates that the mathematical technique developed here is satisfactory for predicting the impact force when an airbag inflates at high speed. The impact force when airbag inflates at high speed depends appreciably on mechanical properties of fabrics.