Abstract
The main objective of the presented study was to compare the effectiveness of two standard test procedures for evaluating bus roof integrity: the dynamic rollover test according to UN-ECE Regulation 66 (ECE-R66), and the quasi-static symmetric roof loading according the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 220 (FMVSS 220). Both tests were applied to a selected Paratransit Bus. The investigation was carried out primarily using a numerical study backed up by experimental validation tests on components and full scale rollover tests. A sensitivity analysis using LS-OPT? was performed to identify the most important structural components influencing the response of the bus in these two tests. The results obtained from this study show that the final outcome of the crashworthiness assessment of the selected paratransit bus depends on the selection of the evaluation standard. Although the two tests are used for the same purpose of roof integrity evaluation, their results are divergent and may lead to different conclusions. The paper presents a discussion on the effectiveness of both standards in evaluating the rollover crashworthiness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Archer, G. E. B., Saltelli, A. and Sobol, I. M. (1997). Sensitivity measures, ANOVA-like techniques and the use of bootstrap. J. Statistical Computation and Simulation 58, 2, 99–120.
Bojanowski, C. (2010). Verification, Validation and Optimization of Finite Element Model of Bus Structure for Rollover Test. Florida State University.
Bojanowski, C., Wekezer, J., Kwasniewski, L. and Kownacki, J. (2009). Florida standard for crashworthiness and safety evaluation of paratransit buses. 21st Int. Technical Conf. Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, 15–18.
Chiu, P. W. and Bloebaum, C. L. (2010). Hyper-Radial Visualization (HRV) method with range-based preferences for multi-objective decision making. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization 40, 1, 97–115.
Cichocki, K. and Wekezer, J. W. (2007). Structural response of paratransit buses in rollover accidents. Int. J. Crashworthiness 12, 3, 217–225.
Florida Department of Transportation (August 10, 2007). Crash and Safety Testing Standard for Paratransit Buses Acquired by the State of Florida.
Gepner, B. D., Rawl, C., Kwasniewski, L., Bojanowski, C. and Wekezer, J. (2011). Comparison of ECE-R66 and FMVSS 220 tests for selected paratransit bus. Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting.
Hallquist, J. O. (2007). LS-DYNA Keyword User’S Manual. Livermore Software Technology Corporation. 970.
Horstemeyer, M. F., Li, H., Siervogel, J., Kwasniewski, L., Wekezer, J., Christiana, B. and Roufa, G. (2007). Material and structural crashworthiness characterization of paratransit buses. Int. J. Crashworthiness 12, 5, 509–520.
Kwasniewski, L. (2009). On practical problems with verification and validation of computational models. Archives of Civil Engineering LV, 3, 323–346.
Kwasniewski, L., Bojanowski, C., Siervogel, J., Wekezer, J. W. and Cichocki, K. (2009). Crash and safety assessment program for paratransit buses. Int. J. Impact Engineering 36, 2, 235–242.
Kwasniewski, L., Li, H., Nimbalkar, R. and Wekezer, J. (2006). Crashworthiness assessment of a paratransit bus. Int. J. Impact Engineering 32, 5, 883–888.
Li, H., Bojanowski, C., Siervogel, J., Wekezer, J. W. and Kwasniewski, L. (2007). Laboratory testing program for F. E. crash analyses of paratransit buses. 20th Int. Technical Conf. Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV), Lyon, France.
Liang, C. C. and Le, G. N. (2010). Analysis of bus rollover protection under legislated standards using LS-DYNA software simulation techniques. Int. J. Automotive Technology 11, 4, 495–506.
NCAC (June 25 2007). Finite Element Model Archive. Available: http://www.ncac.gwu.edu/vml/models.html
Prasad, A., Sutula, D., Saul, R., Hinch, J., Hott, C., Valvo, L., Beretzky, S. and Sword, M. L. (2009). Status of NHTSA Motorcoach Safety Plan. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Schilling, R. J., Carroll, J. J. and Al-Ajlouni, A. F. (2001). Approximation of nonlinear systems with radial basis functioin neural networks. IEEE Trans. Neural Networks 12, 1, 1–15.
Schwer, L. E. (2007). An overview of the PTC 60/V&V 10: Guide for verification and validation in computational solid mechanics. Engineering with Computers 23, 4, 245–252.
Sobol, I. M. (2001). Global sensitivity indices for nonlinear mathematical models and their Monte Carlo estimates. Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 55, 271–288.
Stander, N., Roux, W., Goel, T., Eggleston, T. and Craig, K. (2008). LS-OPT User’S Manual. Livermore Software Technology Corporation.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (Feb. 22, 2006). Regulation 66, Addendum 65, Uniform Technical Prescriptions Concerning the Approval of Large Passenger Vehicles with Regard to the Strength of Their Superstructure.
US Department of Transportation (1998). Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulations FMVSS 220 School Bus Rollover Protection.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gepner, B., Bojanowski, C., Kwasniewski, L. et al. Effectiveness of ECE R66 and FMVSS 220 standards in rollover crashworthiness assessment of paratransit buses. Int.J Automot. Technol. 15, 581–591 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-014-0061-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-014-0061-3