Parameter Identification of Coating Parameters to Improve Webbing Bending Response in Passive Safety Crash Simulations

Seat belt is one of the main load bearing parts for restraining an occupant in a vehicle crash. Thus, accurate modelling of seat belt is important to achieve realistic interaction between belt to Anthropometric Test Devices dummy model in passive safety crash simulation. The belt modelling in the lap area is even more challenging because it also bears out-of-plane load during interaction with the pelvis, causing bending in webbing. Inadequate modelling of the bending response often results in rope-like effect in the lap belt during passive safety crash simulations, causing loss of contact area and eventually incorrect pelvis coupling. Such a behavior of belt is often observed with the application of THOR dummy in crash simulations, leading to an argument that simulations are not able to correctly predict submarining (slippage of belt over the pelvis to load the abdomen) and eventually incorrect estimation of the pelvis iliac forces and moments on the dummy [2]. Therefore, concerns are growing for improving the belt modelling. Besides other modelling aspects (e.g., mesh size, contact modelling, directional dependency of friction etc.), it is believed that including appropriate bending stiffness could improve dummy-to-belt interaction. There are several options available in LS-DYNA to model bending in webbing but the inevitable use of 2D slipring for its robustness and efficiency in the system models poses limitations.