Description
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is seeking potential qualified small businesses to perform research and development work related to finite element modeling for vehicle safety research. The work will involve developing and exercising crash simulation models to evaluate potential crash conditions and their effects on vehicle safety. The contractor will be required to provide research data to support NHTSA's mission of reducing death and injuries on American roadways. The scope of the contract includes developing and exercising crash simulations, full vehicle laser scanning and tear down, material testing, mesh development, and part integration to develop full vehicle and vehicle component finite element models. Some tasks may involve the use of lumped parameter modeling software, but the majority of the work will involve non-linear finite element analysis.
Some key areas of research include:
• Developing and exercising crash simulation models to evaluate potential crash conditions
• Full vehicle laser scanning and tear down for the development of new finite element models
• Material testing to define the behavior of vehicle materials under impact conditions
• Mesh development and part integration to develop full vehicle and vehicle component finite element models
• Developing and utilizing simulation models for vehicle interiors and occupant restraint systems
• Conducting optimization studies to evaluate the safety effects for a range of vehicle structural designs or occupant restraint characteristics