Abstract
This paper describes an experimental testing procedure in which samples of steering wheel armatures from popular 1996–2001 compact vehicles were subjected to impact loading using a drop tower testing device in which a 57 kg rigid plate impacts a steering wheel with a velocity of 3.2 m/s. The purpose of the study was to investigate the crashworthiness characteristics of steering wheel armatures from a similar vehicle line in terms of peak loads, crush force efficiency, elastic response, energy efficiency, specific energy absorption, and the energy absorption factor. In order to obtain comparable results a rigid plate was used to impact the steering wheel armatures to ensure that all the energy absorption through plastic deformation occurred only in the steering wheel armatures. Analysis of the experimental results has shown that the dish depth directly influences the energy absorbed by the armature and that the joining of the spokes to the rim of the armature and the spoke profile significantly affects the load versus displacement profile of the armature. These findings provide useful information that can be used to optimize steering wheel geometry for crashworthiness.
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Nabeta, O., Altenhof, W. An investigation into the crashworthiness characteristics of steering wheel armatures from common compact passenger cars. International Journal of Crashworthiness 8, 329–337 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1533/ijcr.2003.0241
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1533/ijcr.2003.0241