An Innovative Inflatable Morphing Vehicle Structure

The greatest demand facing the automotive industry has been to provide safer vehicles with high fuel efficiency, at minimum cost. Current automotive vehicle structures have a fundamental handicap: a short crumple zone for crash energy absorption. An innovative inflatable bumper concept called the "I-bumper," has been developed in this research to improve the crashworthiness and safety of military and commercial vehicles. The I-bumper has several active structural components, including a morphing mechanism, a movable bumper, two explosive airbags, front posts filled with granules, and a morphing lattice structure with a locking mechanism that provides desired rigidity and energy absorption capability during a crash. An analytical design model has also been developed in this research for the optimal design of the I-bumper system. The developed design and methodologies will be useful to professionals in the fields of commercial or military vehicle development who may be considering an innovative structure concept that can be used for designing better and safer vehicles for improving crashworthiness of vehicles.