POL-X West, Inc.

Engineering Services for the Transportation & Amusement Ride Industries

 

LS-DYNA VIRTUAL PROTOTYPING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

The dynamic finite element analysis program LS-DYNA is the industry standard for dynamic, non-linear analysis of simulations involving motion, large inelastic deformations, and tensile failure.  This program has been used by the transportation industry as the primary method for simulating crash tests of automobiles.  This approach allows components and assemblies to be verified prior to the physical assembly of a vehicle, drastically reducing the time required to verify a prototype design.  POL-X West has completed several projects for clients in the transportation industry which required extensive use of LS-DYNA for simulation of the interaction between the vehicle and the various barriers and crash attenuators under consideration.  Performing the tests virtually, instead of doing full-scale tests of prototype systems, saved tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

End Treatment Dynamic Finite Element Analysis

 

POL-X West performed the prototype design and virtual prototype testing of a new end treatment system, which provided protection for out-of-control automobiles from head-on collisions with fixed roadside obstacles such as concrete bridge supports, lane divisions, etc.

 

The models of the end treatment were created using LS-DYNA dynamic finite element software and were analyzed by impacting them with automobile models obtained from public domain libraries at George Washington University.  This process involved the definition of contact surface characteristics, initial velocities of the vehicles, material properties, and restraints on the end treatment components.

 

Each crash simulation could be evaluated both for the structural integrity of the design as well as the dynamic characteristics of the deceleration, i.e. the performance of the retarding system.  These data could then be compared to the requirements of the AASHTO specifications for end treatments of this type to see if the design was performing within the requirements.  Simulated crashes of different types of vehicles at different approaching trajectories were carried out to cover the full range of full scale tests which would be required by the AASHTO test program. 

 

The DYNA post processor allows both static (JPEG) and dynamic (AVI) image output, including graphs of nodal displacements, velocities, and accelerations.  For samples of the video output, go to www.polxwest.com.

 

(Click on Each Image to View the Simulation)

(Vehicle models courtesy of George Washington University NCAC)

POL-X West, Inc.

Telephone:

001 (775) 882-7797

Fax:

001 (775) 882-8366

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P. O. Box 3612 Carson City, NV 89702 USA

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4580 Wagon Wheel Rd. Carson City, NV 89703 USA

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last modified: 12 January 2007