Browsing by Author "Brown, J. C."
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Item Open Access Alternative design of front door side impact beam for Nissan Navara(Cranfield University, 2006) Calonghi, Andrea; Brown, J. C.In this thesis the aim is to assess the performances of the circular side-impact beam of Nissan Navara / Pathfinder considered in isolation and subjected to a bending test. Established the performances of the actual design in term of Force – displacement, comparing also the results with a bending test on the isolated beam, the following step is to start with the initial design of new open section beams to identify which of the beams designed could substitute the actual circular one. For the new design the evaluation is not only based on the comparison with the Force – displacement graph obtained with test and simulations for the actual circular design, but also on the comparison between the weight of the new designs and of the current side impact beam. Even if the cost is an other parameter of choice, in this thesis it has not been really considered, because the study for the new design is only at the initial phase.Item Open Access Investigation of Two-Wheeled Road Traffic Accidents using Explicit FE Techniques.(Cranfield University, 2007-07) McLundie, W. M.; Brown, J. C.With the increase of road traffic accidents increasing due to motorised traffic in the developing world growing alongside the more traditional bicycles and light motorcycles there is good reason to re-examine the two-wheeler case. In addition, if you include the large congestion charge scheme now underway in London and similar projects being considered in other cities globally, there is an even stronger case. These schemes encourage commuters to get back onto two wheels but with a potential increase in road traffic accidents. The development of Explicit Finite Element Analysis (FEA) over the last 15 years, and large improvements in solver times has made examination of complex impact events achievable. As an extension of this knowledge it is now beginning to be feasible to consider the complex case of injury to vulnerable road users (VRU's). This thesis describes why two-wheeler accidents are increasingly relevant, and the details of which injuries are most common in each particular case. From physical testing, bicycle models for adult and child cases were created and the most relevant car to cyclist accident scenarios re-constructed. Existing humanoid models and vehicle models were adapted to understand biomechanical effects in the collision. The results show that although there is great variation due to this complex event in terms of biomechanical and frictional effects and therefore the resulting kinematics, as a mathematical method of investigating future protection devices it should be possible to gain a greater understanding of their effects in the real world. To this end a final section detailing the development of active and passive technologies (including structural optimisation techniques) has been included.Item Open Access Structural analysis of truck chassis frames under longitudinal loads considering bimoment effects(Cranfield University, 1991-07) Al-Hakeem, Ali Hashim; Brown, J. C.Thin walled beams warp under torsional and longitudinal loads. Warping restraint produces high longitudinal stresses. This is an analysis of the stress distribution in the side members of commercial vehicle chassis frames under the effects of the previously little studied longitudinal loads which may act on a truck chassis through spring hanger brackets. The structure analysed is a model chassis frame consisting of channel section side members and four cross members with different joint connections. The developed theories are incorporated into a special purpose finite element program which may be used in the preliminary stages of chassis frame design. Although the program is only used for the longitudinal load case in this thesis, it is generally applicable for other chassis load cases, including torsion, bending,. .. etc and combination of these. The theoretical results obtained from the program and the finite element analysis on complete chassis frame models are validated against experiments performed on a strain-gauged chassis frame model constructed with the same dimensions and constructional details as the finite element models with the appropriate loading and boundary conditions. Suggestions for the optimum design and attachment positions for components such as spring hanger bracket which may apply longitudinal loads to the side members of the chassis frame are discussed from the point of view of longitudinal loadings.