TNO Automotive

Brake Assisted Side Impact Simulation

BASIS*

Over one third of

fatalities and serious
injuries to vehicle
occupants are caused
by side impacts. To help
reduce vehicle
development costs,
TNO Automotive have
developed a test set-up
on the Inverse Crash
Simulator (ICS) that
accurately reproduces
the forces of a full
scale side impact at a
fraction of the full
scale test cost.

Why Side Impact testing

Side impact crashes represent a large part of all collisions, and account for
more than one third of serious and fatal injuries to car occupants. The limited
space between the occupant and the side of the vehicle provides challenges to
car manufacturers. TNO Automotive have developed a test set-up on the
Inverse Crash Simulator (ICS) that can support vehicle and airbag manufactur-
ers in side impact safety-system development. This set-up, using TNOs ICS with
its braking capability, is known as BASIS* Brake Assisted Side Impact
Simulation, and provides an affordable option between computer simulation
and full-scale testing.

This test set-up is suitable for:
Airbag development;
Out of position testing;
Restraints (airbag) development;
Out of position testing (dynamic);
Development of trim panel stiffness /
dummy seat trim interaction.
2003/05
And R&D development such as:
Comparison between different
anthropomorphic test devices,
(e.g., EuroSID-1 and ES2);
Validation of computer simulation
models.
For a more detailed explanation of BASIS*
please see overleaf.
Brake Assisted Side Impact Simulation
BASIS*
Vertical axis
adjustability 15
2 approximately 5,400 professionals. TNO has five
1 Fine-tuning:
3
4 discrepancy between full-scale test data
Horizontal axis
adjustability 15
BASIS* test set-up
The test set-up is a frame (1) on which the
door (2) is mounted. Next to it a seat, with
a dummy, is placed on a smaller sled (3),
running on linear rails (4). Both the frame
and the rails are attached to the ICS sled.
How does BASIS*
A pulse for the ICS is obtained from a full-
scale test or from a computer simulation.
When a pulse is applied to the test set-up,
the seat with the instrumented dummy is
moving on the linear rail, due to inertia,
towards the door. Similar to a full-scale
impact the dummy hits the door, which
may deform. The dummy is loaded due to
the impact and the injury criteria of the
dummy are measured.
TNO Automotive provides a comprehensive range
of research, development and engineering ser-
vices and products to the automobile industry,
Correlation with full-scale tests government agencies and other organisations
throughout the world, with special reference to
A study has been made to investigate the road safety, energy consumption, the environment
correlation between full-scale side impact and transport efficiency.
tests and those recreated, using the BASIS* Areas of expertise are: crash safety, powertrains,
method. A review of the test data shows a advanced chassis and transport systems and
homologations.
compliance with the full-scale results
within 10% for the contact velocities, TNO Automotive is part of TNO, a leading indepen-
contact timing and injury criteria results. dent contract research organisation who employs
core areas of expertise: Quality of Life, Defence
and Public Safety, Advanced Products, Processes
In order to further decrease the and Systems, Natural and Built Environment, ICT
and Services. For more information: www.tno.nl
and the results from the Brake Assisted
Side Impact Simulation, a number of TNO Automotive
parameters may be adjusted, such as: Crash Testing & Engineering
The angle of the door in both the Y and
Z axis; P.O. Box 6033
The pulse for accelerating the ICS sled is 2600 JA Delft
easily and quickly changed; The Netherlands
Seat acceleration is independently
adjustable in order to obtain a correct www.automotive.tno.nl
door / seat interaction.
For more information about BASIS*
30.00
FULL SCALE
please contact:
25.00 TEST
BASIS*
Tel: +31 15 269 63 44
20.00 Fax: +31 15 257 21 04
cte2@wt.tno.nl
Compression [mm]
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00 100.00
Time [ms]
Middle rib displacement
The benefits of BASIS* testing on the ICS:
Low cost in comparison with full scale
side impact testing;
Several tests per day are possible with
low set-up time for tests;
Flexibility of testing with an adjustable
door-angle, different pulses and
adjustable velocity of the seat, etc;
Excellent visibility of the interaction
between occupant, restraint system and
trim panel, due to the open structure of
the test set-up;
Requires far fewer vehicles to develop a
robust safety system.
It is intended that simulation of car to pole
impacts on the ICS will be developed in
the near future.