Behavioral Analysis of Volvo Cars Instrument Panel During Airbag Deployment

Abstract: Airbags are a passive safety technology, required to function with zero failure rate. Advances in Computer Aided Engineering have allowed vehicle manufacturers to predict material and system behavior in the event of a crash. The sudden and rapid nature of a vehicle frontal crash, together with strict requirements put on safety make this a sensitive task. This thesis focuses on the front passenger airbag deployment and the instrument panel’s response. Various airbag modelling techniques are studied and presented in this document. This work is part of a larger-scale attempt to model a generic-sled that is physically representative of a real vehicle. Various component tests are to be performed in the sled environment, as opposed to a real vehicle, to save costs. Various modules are added to the sled once their behavior is verified by testing and in simulations. Software are advanced enough to identify location and magnitude of stress concentrations that develop during crash. LS-DYNA is used for explicit finite element simulations of the instrument panel (IP) in question with different airbag models. Verification has been achieved by design of experiment (DOE); with tests conducted to capture both the movements of the airbag housing and IP movements in response. These movements are broken down in various phases, facilitating implementation in the sled environment. Simplifications are made both to the computer models as well as the physical testing environment. The effects of these simplifications are quantified and discussed. Theoretical background is provided where fit while assumptions are justified wherever made. DYNAmore recommendations regarding costeffective calculations as well as result verification are followed. The obtained results show that the FE models replicate the real event with acceptable precision. The findings in this work can, by minor tweaks, be implemented on other IP models in the Volvo Cars range, leading to cost-saving solutions. This thesis provides the necessary information for sled implementations as well as future improvement suggestions.