Career: Foam Models for Occupant-Seat Interaction Engineering

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

We will develop and calibrate a model of polyether polyurethane solid foams for the realistic computational simulation of occupant-seat interaction in automotive engineering. The project involves theoretical, experimental, and computational work at the forefront of research on materials governed by nonconvex potentials. This will be a cooperative effort with the Safety Research & Development Group at Ford Research Labs and the computational mechanics group of Prof. Cuitino (Rutgers).We will perform measurements of displacement fields using a novel, finite element-based image correlation technique. A set of tests on rate effects and hysteresis will be performed at Ford. We will also undertake an unprecedented factor analysis of microstructural features. The results will serve to calibrate the computational model, which will be based on nonlinear, homogenized periodic cell structures.