Numerical Modelling of Laser Scoring Line Behaviour for Seamless Passenger Airbag Door Opening 2009-01-0356

In the nineties, automotive passive safety improved with airbag implementation. To avoid injuries for occupants during front impact, driver and passenger airbags were integrated into cockpits. Today, 6 to 10 airbags are placed into cars and the binnacle is designed safer than it used to for impact velocities up to 64km/h. Concerning front passenger airbag, several kinds of designs are found. Rubber cover can be clipped onto instrument panels (IP), and more recently, seamless airbags are used to both meet safety requirements and design requirements. This paper deals with numerical modelling of laser scoring line behaviour for passenger airbag door opening. Experimental tests on samples are described, and a numerical method is presented. An identification method is used to find correct parameters of the chosen law of behaviour. Further, the validation of the law is engaged with experimental tests on IP covers, numerical simulation is discussed on different IP and correlations are shown.