ProductsAbaqus/Explicit Automotive seat belts dramatically reduce the risk of vehicle occupant injury in the case of collision. The seat belt system includes:
Several SLIPRING connectors strung together are used to model the belt webbing passing through the rings. The RETRACTOR and HINGE connection types are used to model the retractor and pretensioner. Geometry and materialsAs shown in Figure 1, the model consists of several distinct entities: the dummy, the seat belt, the retractor, and the seat. The modeling strategy consists of applying an initial velocity for the dummy of approximately 45 miles per hour while the seat and the seat belt attachment points to the car frame are held fixed with boundary conditions, thus emulating a vehicle that comes to a sudden stop. DummyA very simple dummy model is used (none of the limbs are modeled). The dummy model has two distinct parts: the lower torso and the upper torso. The lower torso is modeled with rigid surface elements. The upper torso is modeled in the same fashion except in the chest area. The human body compliance is modeled approximately by meshing a region in the chest area using deformable shell elements. In addition, four CARTESIAN and CARDAN connectors with nonlinear elastic and damping behavior are inserted between four nodes around the chest area and four nodes belonging to the rigid back of the upper torso. The upper and lower torsos overlap over a small region around the waist area, and general contact is used to model the contact interactions between them. The approximate mass of the dummy is 35 kilograms. SeatThe seat modeling is minimal since the focus of this example is to illustrate the seat belt modeling technique. Only one solid element with crushable foam material properties is used to model the lower part of the seat. The back support is not modeled. Seat belt webbing passing through ringsThe seat belt is modeled primarily using several SLIPRING connectors strung together. To model the contact interactions between the belt and the chest and lap areas accurately, membrane elements are used to model short portions of the belt in these regions. Figure 2 shows the seat belt arrangement. The node numbers associated with the connector elements are also illustrated. The seat belt is defined starting from the right side of the figure (adjacent to the B-pillar in the car) and moving to the chest area, the waist-level click-in buckle, the lap area, and finally the attachment to the car bottom floor, as follows:
The stretching of the belt is governed by the specified nonlinear elastic connector behavior. RetractorThe retractor device is located at the bottom of the B-pillar. It is modeled using a RETRACTOR connector in parallel with several HINGE connectors as illustrated in Figure 3. The connections are as follows:
The spool effect is inactive until the spool lock connector locks; hence, the two HINGE connectors are placed in series. The preload is applied at all times and, therefore, is placed in parallel with the two other HINGE connectors. PretensionerThe pretensioner device is attached to the car frame in the vicinity of the waist-level click-in buckle. It is modeled using a SLIPRING connector and a RETRACTOR and a HINGE connector in parallel as illustrated in Figure 4. The connections are as follows:
ModelsTwo analyses are studied: one analysis that considers the friction in the connector elements and one analysis without friction in the connector elements. In addition, a comparison between isotropic and anisotropic friction in the contact interaction between the belt and the dummy is analyzed.
Results and discussionThe undeformed and deformed shapes (t=0.0215 seconds) for the model are shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7, respectively. Results for belt tensions and material flow in and out of the shoulder level slipring are shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9. At this junction SLIPRING connector elements 8888803 and 8888804 share a common node 8300243. For the frictionless analysis the normalized belt tensions are shown in Figure 8. As expected, the two tension histories are the same. For the frictional case, the ratio of the belt tension in adjacent belt segments is shown in Figure 9. For the case when the belt is slipping, the ratio of the belt tension is given by , where and are the tensions in the adjacent SLIPRING connector elements, μ is the coefficient of friction, and α is the angle between the two adjacent sliprings. For the seat belt model with friction where μ=0.1 and α=1.718132 radians, the ratio of the belt tension is . As shown in Figure 9, the ratio agrees well with the analytical result. Near the end of the analysis (≈19 milliseconds) the ratio of the belt tension drops from this value. Figure 9 shows that the normalized accumulated slip remains constant for the remainder of the analysis; hence, we can conclude that the ratio drops because the belt starts sticking. Figure 10 shows that the material flows across node 8300243, which is the second node of connector element 8888803 and the first node of connector element 8888804, are identical as expected. As expected, activating anisotropic friction with a higher friction coefficient in the transverse direction of the belt with respect to the longitudinal direction causes the belt to have a smaller lateral motion, as shown in Figure 11. Input files
FiguresFigure 1. Seat belt and dummy arrangement.
Figure 2. Seat belt arrangement.
Figure 3. Retractor model.
Figure 4. Pretensioner model.
Figure 5. Directional preference 1 (the most resistance to slipping) for the
anisotropic frictional model.
Figure 6. Dummy and seat belt system in the undeformed configuration.
Figure 7. Dummy and seat belt system in the deformed configuration.
Figure 8. Normalized belt tension of adjacent frictionless sliprings.
Figure 9. Ratio of belt tension of adjacent sliprings with friction and the
normalized accumulated slip.
Figure 10. Normalized material flow across node between adjacent
sliprings.
Figure 11. Position of the belt system in the deformed configuration (with
anisotropic friction, left; without anisotropic friction, right).
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