An approach to the design of a deformable mobile barrier to evaluate the protection afforded to occupants of a passenger car involved in a side collision.

THE STATISTICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE LATERAL IMPACT, EITHER IN QUANTITY AND SEVERITY INDEX OF INJURIES, IS STRESSED OUT. THE VARIOUS TEST PROCEDURES ALLOWING TO QUOTE THE DEGREE OF PROTECTION AFFORDED TO THE OCCUPANTS OF A PASSENGER CAR ARE ANALYSED. IT IS ALSO RECALLED THAT THE ONLY PROCEDURE CAPABLE TO LEAD TO A REALISTIC AND COHERENT APPROACH OF THE PROBLEM IS THE TEST CARRIED OUT WITH AN IMPACTOR OF WHICH THE FRONT END FEATURES SPECIFIC PROPERTIES OF RIGIDITY AND DEFORMATION. THE DETAILS OF MEASUREMENTS CARRIED OUT ON 20 CARS REPRESENTATIVE OF PRESENT PRACTICES IN AUTOMOBILE STRUCTURAL DESIGN, AND AFFORDING GOOD PASSENGER PROTECTION IN CASE OF FRONTAL IMPACT, ARE DISCUSSED HERE. PRECISIONS ARE ALSO GIVEN ON THEIR TREATMENT, THUS LEADING THROUGH STATISTICAL WAY TO THE PROPOSED SOLUTION FOR A DEFORMABLE MOBILE BARRIER: MASS, WIDTH, HEIGHT FROM THE GROUND LEVEL, USABLE HEIGHT, NUMBER OF BLOCKS, RIGIDITY OF EACH BLOCK AND POSSIBLE PROCEDURE TO FOLLOW WITH MAXIMUM ACCURACY THE CURVE OF MEAN RIGIDITY ISSUED FROM THE ACTUAL TESTS. A VALIDATION PROCEDURE HAS BEEN ALREADY SET UP, AND RIGHT NOW, DATA ARE COLLECTED DURING SIDE COLLISION TESTS OF 10 VEHICLES (SELECTED OUT OF THE 20) AGAINST THE SAME VEHICLE, ALSO CHOSEN AMONG THE 10 AND TAKING ACCOUNT OF ITS STATISTICAL IMPORTANCE IN THE REGISTRATIONS, AND ALSO OF ITS OWN STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGY. A DISCUSSION IS PRESENTED ON SOME ARGUMENTS ALREADY EXPRESSED AT THE MEETING OF THE WORKING GROUP NO 6 (CEVE), SHOWING THE POSSIBLE SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS CARRIED OUT WITH THE PROPOSED DEFORMABLE MOBILE BARRIER (BMD: BARRIER MOBILE DEFORMABLE) FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF REGULATIONS, TAKING ACCOUNT OF PERFORMANCE CRITERIA INSTEAD OF GEOMETRICAL ONES.(A) FOR THE COVERING ABSTRACT OF THE CONFERENCE SEE IRRD 802816.