Vehicle Body and Roll Cage Assessment involving Frontal, Side and Roll-over Crash Analysis by FEA using LS-Dyna

Simulating the vehicle collision has gained importance in the automotive sector due to its accuracy, cost effectiveness and enhanced reliability. It aids in improving the safety of driver and passenger and also examine the cause of crash or collision. This numerical analysis investigates the materials capability to enhance safety. A three-dimensional vehicle model was developed along with its roll cage using solid work tool. Hypermesh work bench was employed to discretise the sensitive parts of the body and roll cage using beam 189 element having six degree of freedom at each node. The existing structural steel members were replaced with reinforced carbon fibre in all the sensitive part of the body and roll cage and its structural stability was assessed using the frontal, side and roll over crash simulation using LS Dyna. This investigation also reveals the change in internal energy, kinetic energy absorption and momentum transfer for both structural steel and carbon fiber under all the crash scenarios. The outcomes of this numerical investigation proved that the reinforced carbon fiber can be effectively replaced with the structural steel to enhance safety.

Effect of Various Speed Management Strategies on Bicycle Crashes for Urban Roads in Central Florida

In recent years, cycling has become an increasingly popular transportation mode around the world. In comparison with other popular modes of transportation, cycling is economical and energy efficient. While many studies have been conducted for the analysis of bicycle safety, most were limited in bicycle exposure data and on-street data. This study tries to improve the current safety performance functions for bicycle crashes at urban corridors by utilizing crowdsource data from STRAVA and on-street speed management strategies data. Speed management strategies are any roadway alterations that cause a change in motorists’ driving behavior. In Florida, these speed management strategies are defined by the Florida Department of Transportation design manual. Considering the disproportionate representation of cyclists from the STRAVA data, adjustments were made to represent more accurately the cyclists based on the video detection data by developing a Tobit model. The adjusted STRAVA data was used for bicyclist exposure to analyze bicycle crashes on urban arterials. A Bayesian joint model was developed to identify the relations between the bicycle crash frequency and factors relating to speed management strategies. Other factors, such as vehicle traffic data, roadway information, socio-demographic characteristics, and land use data, were also considered in the model. The results suggest that the adjusted STRAVA data could be used as the exposure for bicycle crash analysis. The results also highlight the significant effects of speed management strategies, such as parking lots and surface pavement. It is expected that these findings could help engineers develop effective strategies to enhance safety for bicyclists.

Control and Monitoring Vehicle using Arduino and GSM Module

The Black Box control and monitoring system for vehicles concept is derived from the aviation industry, a flight recorder, colloquially known as a black box; although it is now orange-colored for easy search, is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. With the advancement in technology and cost coming down, in our project we attempt to build similar device for our cars, not only this device will help us in post-crash analysis but also it will help us in quicker emergency rescue operation. Our research has been targeted towards building an integrated system for emergency rescue services in the event of a road accident. The purpose of the project is to find the accident location using GPS module and to send this location by means of sending a message using GSM module to the pre-coded number. This system is usually placed inside the vehicle. It reduces the time it takes for emergency rescue to arrive at the crash location.