Repeatability of a dynamic rollover test system

ABSTRACTObjective: The goal of this study was to characterize the rollover crash and to evaluate the repeatability of the Dynamic Rollover Test System (DRoTS) in terms of initial roof-to-ground contact conditions, vehicle kinematics, road reaction forces, and vehicle deformation.Methods: Four rollover crash tests were performed on 2 pairs of replicate vehicles (2 sedan tests and 2 compact multipurpose van [MPV] tests), instrumented with a custom inertial measurement unit to measure vehicle and global kinematics and string potentiometers to measure pillar deformation time histories. The road was instrumented with load cells to measure reaction loads and an optical encoder to measure road velocity. Laser scans of pre- and posttest vehicles were taken to provide detailed deformation maps.Results: Initial conditions were found to be repeatable, with the largest difference seen in drop height of 20 mm; roll rate, roll angle, pitch angle, road velocity, drop velocity, mass, and moment of inertia were all 7% dif...