IIHS Side Impact Analysis Using LS-DYNA/Madymo Coupling

The LS-DYNA/Madymo coupling has a growing popularity in the field of vehicle crash analysis as it allows the users to merge an existing occupant simulation subsystem model and a full car structural model into one system. The extended coupling feature introduced in late 2002 has significantly enhanced this model fusion capability. This paper demonstrates the application of such a coupling technique for the simulation of the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) side impact condition on one of General Motor's vehicle development programs. However, when this analytical work was originated, the test configuration was new and still not completely defined. The baseline model consists of the vehicle structure and barrier model in LS-DYNA, and occupant and airbag models in Madymo. The baseline model was modified to demonstrate an enabler that helped improve side impact performance.