Under Pitch Control Techniques for Crashworthiness Improvement: Analytical Approach Using IHBM for Vehicle Control System and Extendable Structure

The aim of this paper is to improve vehicle crashworthiness using vehicle dynamics control systems (VDCS) integrated with an extendable front-end structure (extendable bumper). The work carried out in this paper includes developing and analyzing a new vehicle dynamics/crash mathematical model in case of vehicle-to-vehicle full frontal impact. This model integrates a vehicle dynamics model with the vehicle’s front-end structure to define the vehicle body crash kinematic parameters. In this model, the anti-lock braking system (ABS) and the active suspension control system (ASC) are co-simulated, and its associated equations of motion are developed and solved using Incremental Harmonic Balance Method (IHBM). An Under Pitch Control (UPC) technique is used to minimize the deformation zone, pitch angle and its acceleration. The simulations show considerable improvements using UPC alongside ABS with and without the extendable bumper (EB), which produces additional significant improvements for both vehicle boy acceleration and intrusion.