Design and Development of Crash Energy Absorption Systems based on Magneto Rheological Absorber for Passenger Cars

Abstract

The global car crash fatalities are mostly due to frontal collisions. The head-on collision of a car leads to the dangerous intrusion of bumper and other frontal parts of the vehicle towards the passenger compartment. The world is moving towards applying intelligent technologies in automobiles, with focus on the development of autonomous vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with devices to predict and avoid dangerous situations such as vehicle crashes, pedestrian hits, etc. Such devices are mostly used in pre-crash management but not during crash. Hence, there is a requirement of smart and adaptable crash energy absorption system (CEAS) in frontal structure of the car that works during crashes and modulates its energy absorption capability as per the severity of crash. A new CEAS combined with a Magneto-Rheological Absorber (MRA) has been proposed to meet the above requirements.