A Study for Developing Process of a Bus Body Structure for the Rollover Safety

Bus manufacturers have tested and studied the dynamic collapse behavior of a bus body structure in rollover since UN ECE established ECE Regulation 66 to provide the requirement for the strength of bus structure. In spite of the costly cycles of practical tests, however, it is still a hard task to meet the rollover regulation by means of local reinforcements in the bus structure. Therefore it is necessary to develop a well designed strategy for the rollover strength implemented in the early stage of vehicle development. In this study, the suitable development method for each design stage from a component to complete body structure was considered to make a well-established development process of a bus body structure for rollover safety. For the efficient approach of the concept design stage, a numerical model based on the plastic hinge theory was used instead of detailed shell models. After setting up the concept design for the component size and geometry, the shell model was used to confirm and optimize the whole structure composition. The process developed in this study was practically used as an effective method to predict the rollover behavior of a new bus body structure.