Air Bag Momentum Force Including Aspiration

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Nusholtz, Guy | Wang, Deguan | Wylie, E. Benjamin

Affiliations: Chrysler Corp. | Visiting Scholar | Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2125

Abstract: A gas-jet momentum force drives the air bag into position during a crash. The magnitude of this force can change as a result of aspiration. To determine the potential magnitude of the effect on the momentum force and mass flow rate in an aspirated system, a series of experiments and simulations of those experiments was conducted. The simulation consists of a two-dimensional unsteady isentropic CFD model with special “infinite boundaries”. One of the difficulties in simulating the gas-jet behavior is determining the mass flow rate. To improve the reliability of the mass flow rate input to the simulation, a sampling procedure involving multiple tests was used, and an average of the tests was adopted.

DOI: 10.3233/SAV-1995-2201

Journal: Shock and Vibration, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 99-109, 1995