The energy-absorbing (EA) steering system plays an important role in vehicle crashes, because on impact the occupant directly hits the system. In this study, the EA steering system is precisely modelled for analysis and designed through optimization. The body block test is carried out to establish the modelling. When the test results are insufficient for detailed modelling, the differences between tests and simulations are minimized to calculate unknown parameters using optimization. The established model is applied to the crash simulation of a full-car model and again re-evaluated. After the modelling is completed, components of the steering system are designed by an optimization algorithm. In the optimization process, the compound injury criterion of the driver is defined and minimized to determine the characteristics of the components. The second-order approximation algorithm has been adopted for the optimization. (Author/publisher).
Abstract