HEAVY VEHICLE-INFRASTRUCTURE ASSET INTERACTION AND COLLISION Research Objectives Executive Summary

The main objectives of this research task were to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the singleunit truck (SUT) finite element model with respect to its ability to accurately simulate its interaction with roadside safety hardware and to identify areas of possible improvements. The model’s primary purpose is to be used as a “bullet ” object for computational evaluation of roadside safety hardware. A cooperative effort between the National Transportation Research Center, Inc. (NTRCI), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Battelle, and NCAC was initiated to update and enhance the kinematic and structural accuracy of NCAC’s Ford F800 single-unit truck FE model. This report outlines the methodology used in evaluating, validating against experimental data and updating the FE model. A new Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)-based documentation has been developed to facilitate the model adoption and understanding of prospective users. The overall methodology used by the participants- from evaluation to validation to documentation- is outlined in this report and can be applied to other basic vehicle FE models currently available in public domain. The goal of the project was also to establish a methodology for validation and verification of the finite element models used in roadside hardware analysis so that it could be applied to other vehicle finite element models currently under development. Test Correlations Model analyses and comparison between simulations and test results led to recommendations for the SUT model modifications that were implemented by the original developers of the model, National Crash Analysis Center (NCAC) and participants in this project, Battelle, Oak Ridg