Observations during Validation of Side Impact Dumy Models - Consequences for the Development of the Fat Es-2 Model

Detailed finite element side impact dummy models of the USSID and EUROSID have been developed in cooperation with the German Association for Automotive Research (FAT) during the last 5 years. Both models are validated using tests at material and component levels as well as fully assembled models. The development of the LS-DYNA dummy models has been performed by the authors. Both models are used by nearly all car manufacturers worldwide which use LS-DYNA for occupant safety simulations. EuroNCAP (European New Car Assessment Program) announced recently a modified testing protocol for side impact assessment using the ES-2 dummy instead of the EUROSID-1 dummy. The ES-2 dummy is identical in many parts with the EUROSID-1 dummy but shows different behavior in experiments. Hence, the development of a model for the ES-2 dummy is of great interest for the automotive engineers working in the field of passive safety. The FAT has launched a project similar to the previous one to develop an ES-2 model. Due to urgent need of the model in the industry a tight schedule is given for the development. The first release of the model is already available. DYNAmore GmbH is responsible for the developing the LS-DYNA models. This paper summarizes experiences gained during the validation of the EUROSID-1 and USSID model and describes the tests performed to validate the ES-2 model. Finally, the performance of the first version of the ES-2 model and the schedule for the project is presented.