Passenger Vehicle Structural Response in a Dynamic Rollover Test

The structural performance of a vehicle has been shown to be associated with the likelihood of sustaining serious injury in passenger vehicle rollover crashes. With increasing interest in implementing interior safety features, such as side curtain airbags, to mitigate injury during rollover it is important to understand the response of the vehicle structure onto which many of these devices are attached. Further, research is ongoing to determine the feasibility of using a dynamic rollover test device, such as the Jordan Rollover System (JRS), to accurately assess a vehicle’s ability to protect occupants in rollover crashes. This research requires an understanding of the performance of the tests performed on such a system. The objective of this paper is to investigate the response of the vehicle structure, as tested on the JRS, with specific focus on the relationship between the dynamic and residual roof intrusion. This paper will also investigate the kinematic response of the vehicle and how it is related to roof performance and test conditions.