Vehicle Characterization Through Pole Impact Testing, Part II: Analysis of Center and Offset Center Impacts

The severity of an impact in terms of the acceleration in the occupant compartment is dependent not only on the change in vehicle velocity, but also the time for the change in velocity to occur. These depend on the geometry and stiffness of both the striking vehicle and struck object. In narrow-object frontal impacts, impact location can affect the shape and duration of the acceleration pulse that reaches the occupant compartment. In this paper, the frontal impact response of a full-sized pickup to 10 mile per hour and 20 mile per hour pole impacts at the centerline and at a location nearer the frame rails is compared using the acceleration pulse shape, the average acceleration in the occupant compartment, and the residual crush. A bilinear curve relating impact speed to residual crush is developed. Finally, the vehicle center pole impact response at 30 miles per hour is compared for the same make pickup truck with different engine configurations (V6 and V8) and an equivalent energy analysis is presented that uses the results from the 30 mile per hour center pole tests to estimate the speed of lower speed impacts.