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CHAPTER 5. CASE STUDY

of inertia. Furthermore, during a crash event, the attached components suffer themselves
external dynamic loading. With this two details in mind, there are some constraint to be
defined in the CCB structure. These are three rigid bodys and three multiple to one node
constraint which refer to:
Two rigid body with user-defined center of gravity, mass and inertia properties (PAMCRASH definition: rigid body type 3). These rigid bodys refer to the passenger airbag
assembly and to the heaterbox of the car HVAC system;
One regular rigid body (PAM-CRASH definition: rigid body type 0) to localize the point
of apllication of the A-pillar LHS load and moment;
Two multiple to one node constraint with user-imposed mass and inertia properties
(PAM-CRASH definition: MTOCO type 1). One refers to the steering wheel - airbag
assembly and the other one refers to the steering column.
One regular multiple to one node constraint (PAM-CRASH definition: MTOCO type
0) to localize the first cardan of the steering column where is placed a frontal impact
dynamic load.
The reason why MTOCOs are used instead of rigid bodies is because they are applied in the
steering column assembly where the the dependent nodes of the steering wheel and 1st cardan
MTOCOs are exactly the same node which is also the independent node of the the steering
column MTOCOs. This scenario is incompatible with rigid body constraint as mentioned in
previous section 3.4.
To build these 6 constraints, coordinates of the COGs and of the loads point of application
needed to be defined. Figures 5.14, 5.15 and 5.16 define some of these points coordinates,
more precisely the COG of the steering column, steering wheel and heaterbox, respectively.
Passenger airbag COG and first cardan coordinates were obtained from a NASTRAN model
of this CCB in SODECIA - Centro Tecnolgico. These coordinates are visible Table 5.3. Last
but not least, the coordinates of the point of application of the A-pillar loading were assumed
to be as defined in Table 5.3.
Table 5.3: Passengers airbag assembly COG, first cardan coordinates and Apillar LHS loading point of application.

Coordinates(mm)

Passengers airbag COG

1st cardan

A-pillar LHS loading

2344.78

2218.29

2254

343.20

-334.95

-660

1108.79

848.12

979

Figure 5.17 shows the points of the CCB structure where the heaterbox is fixed.
Mass and inertia properties of the heaterbox, passenger airbag assembly, steering column
and steering wheel were provided by SODECIA - Centro Tecnolgico. These properties are
defined in Table 5.4.