16th International LS-DYNA® Users Conference Aerospace

Belt Modelling in LS-DYNA®

Mikael Dahlgren, Abhiroop Vishwanatha, Anurag Soni
Autoliv Sweden, India, North Germany

Klas Engstrand, Jimmy Forsberg

DYNAmore Nordic AB

Isheng Yeh
LST LCC

Abstract
Belt modelling in LS-DYNA has gone from 1D-belt elements, through hybrid belt modelling into 2D seatbelt elements. The current
paper investigates recently developed features in LS-DYNA such as bending, strain-rate and orthotropic material behavior. A short
description of the evolution of belt modelling is also given.
Belt modelling in LS-DYNA has in the past and in the closest future included modelling of sliprings which are points in space where
the belt elements pass through. Typical, these are located at sharp directional changes in the belt routing, e.g. B-pillar, D-ring and
buckle tongue.
Currently, it is the slipring functionality that inhibits users from using an ordinary element and material, of their own selection, to
model the belt. Both 1D and 2D belt elements are assigned with *MAT_SEATBELT as it is the only material compatible with
sliprings. 2D belt elements in LS-DYNA is a combination of 1D-belt elements along the length direction of the belt and 2D membrane
elements made of a MAT_FABRIC material created internal in LS-DYNA. The MAT_FABRIC is created based on *MAT_SEATBELT
values.
This means current *MAT_SEATBELT in LS-DYNA do not carry any bending loads. The new feature development makes the coating
functionality found for MAT_FABRIC available in *MAT_SEATBELT_2D. This enables the bending load carrying possibilities for the
2D belt elements in LS-DYNA. Apart from this feature strain-rate dependency and orthotropic material behavior have been added to
the 2D belt elements.
It will be shown that the interaction between occupant and belt is improved. It will also be shown that the behavior of an unloaded
belt is improved. Finally, there is a short outline of foreseen future needs regarding belt modelling features.

Introduction
Belts are the most lifesaving innovations made ever in the vehicle history, reference [1]. Hence, the necessity of
modelling belts is obvious. Over time, the evolution of belt modelling techniques used in LS-DYNA has
evolved and currently the 2D belt elements are frequently used and recommended. This paper will do a brief
historical picture of belt modelling and from that point show in the new belt modelling in LS-DYNA. In this
paper focus is on the slipring functionality, described below, and model of the belt fabric.

Belt fabric is typically an orthotropic material which is routed through sliprings in order to obtain a beneficial
position on the passengers of the vehicle to reduce the injury levels obtained during crash. In LS-DYNA there
has been a feature for the sliprings as an approximation for the physical part where the belt is routed. The reason
is efficiency and robustness. It is possible to model the physical slipring, but the contact situation puts
requirements on the element size and timestep size in the simulation model. Hence, the use of slipring element
is still standard in most situations in the automotive industry.

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16th International LS-DYNA® Users Conference Aerospace

Historically, the belt was modelled completely with 1D elements. For the last 10-15 years the belt was modelled
using a hybrid approach: 2D elements for a major part of the belt fabric but 1D elements in order to make use of
the slipring functionality in LS-DYNA. The motivation for using 2D elements for part of the belt was to get a
better interaction between the dummy and belt. Note that the 2D belt elements was typically modelled using
membrane elements however that is not a requirement for these simulations. In recent years, 2D belt elements is
the dominating choice to represent the belt fabric since the implementation of 2D sliprings introduced in R7.
Due to element size decrease of the dummy model, the belt elements also need to decrease in order to be able to
capture all effects in the interaction between dummy and belt. However, these elements are still membrane
elements and do not carry any bending loads. Adding more elements along the width of the belt will make the
belt collapse more easily.

Today, there is a possibility to add bending stiffness to the 2D belt elements in LS-DYNA. This paper shows
how to add bending stiffness to belt material and still enable the use of the slipring element in LS-DYNA;
demonstrates that this improves belt behavior, avoiding collapse during loading and unloading compared to
current state-of-the-art material modelling. It will be showed that foreseen needs and functionalities is made
available for capturing the belt fabric behavior.

Bending - Coating functionality

In LS-DYNA bending properties can be added to the membrane elements of MAT_FABRIC (034) if FORM= -
14 is used, i.e. a coating functionality, reference [2].
The new extension of *MAT_SEATBELT_2D in LS-DYNA utilize the coating functionality in the same
manner as described for MAT_FABRIC, FORM=-14. The coating functionality can be visualized as an added
layer of elasto-plastic material on the surfaces of the membrane element. This extra layer enables the membrane
to transfer bending loads, see Figure 1.

Figure 1: Visualization of coating functionality, to the left. To the right, suggested setup for determining the
coating isotropic elasto-plastic hardening material parameters, i.e. thickness, Youngs modulus and yield
strength.

It should be noted that the stress contribution from the coating cannot be measured using
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION.

To determine the parameters of the coating it is suggested that one make use of one strip of the belt at a selected
load level of tension. The tension load of the belt is selected to the typical load level of the belt, during crash
loading, when it is crucial to capture the bending stiffness of the belt.

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16th International LS-DYNA® Users Conference Aerospace

Results

Bending properties for belt material

The two major result achieved by adding the coating to the belt is the improved performance in bending over
the width belt, see Fig. 2, and the more stable unloading behavior, see Fig. 3. The effect becomes more obvious
if the belt is finely meshed.

Figure 2: Loading of belt into foam blocks at three instants of time. Left: FORM=0, Middle: FORM=-14 with
coating and Right: physical test.

Figure 3: Top row: After peak load behavior using FORM=0 to the left and FORM=-14 with coating to the
right. Bottom row: Physical test

The advantage of coating feature in *MAT_SEATBELT can also be seen in belt interaction with dummy pelvis
assembly as shown in Fig. 4. The updated material model clearly captures the behavior better as in test.

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16th International LS-DYNA® Users Conference Aerospace

Figure 4: Comparison of belt behavior at 40 ms into the event, between test (left), seatbelt without coating
(middle) and seatbelt with coating (right).

Strain-rate effect
The strain-rate effect for 1D belt element has been used and strain-rate dependency is now available for 2D belt
elements, see Fig. 5. The strain-rate effect enables to capture the behavior and injury levels at different impact
speeds.

Figure 5: The implemented strain-rate effect for MAT_SEATBELT_2D in a simplified test case.

Orthotropic membrane material properties

A belt has orthotropic membrane behavior and that is now made available also for 2D belt elements. The user
controls the material properties to be applied in the perpendicular direction of the belt using the parameters, EB,
PRAB, PRBA and GAB, further described in the Appendix. The orthotropic membrane properties are illustrated
in Fig. 6.

Figure 6: The implemented orthotropic material properties for MAT_SEATBELT_2D in a simplified test case.

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16th International LS-DYNA® Users Conference Aerospace

Conclusion
The new implementation of *MAT_SEATBELT_2D allows for orthotropic membrane behavior, isotropic
bending behavior, strain-rate effects and use of sliprings. By using the coating functionality for 2D belt
elements in LS-DYNA it has been shown that the belt behavior of a belt loaded in bending is more robust. It is
also indicated that behavior during unloading is more robust. This enables the use of 2D seatbelt elements in
new belt modelling.

Future needs
It is foreseen that in the future and for detailed analysis of sliprings a traditional model utilizing normal contact
definition will be used. Hence, a need for a coupled material/element model to separate the bending/tension will
be needed. Currently, this will have to be accomplished with double layered elements (membrane/shell for in-
plane/bending properties, respectively).

References
[1] Kahane, C. J. (2015, January). Lives saved by vehicle safety technologies and associated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards,
1960 to 2012 – Passenger cars and LTVs – With reviews of 26 FMVSS and the effectiveness of their associated safety technologies in
reducing fatalities, injuries, and crashes. (Report No. DOT HS 812 069). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.
[2] T Borrvall, C Ehle, T Stratton: ‘A Fabric material model with stress map functionality in LS-DYNA’, 10th European LS-DYNA
User’s Conference, Würzburg, 2015.
[3] LS-DYNA Keyword User’s Manual, Vol 1, Livermore Software Technology Corporation, 2019.

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Appendix: Parameter setting in LS-DYNA for 2D belt modelling

When using 2D belt elements in LS-DYNA there are many parameters which are determined by LS-DYNA
automatically. In this section a brief explanation is made for some of the most common parameters that should
be set by the engineer.

The parameters that need to be set on *SECTION_SHELL, *MAT_SEATBELT_2D are given in Figure 7 & 8.

SECTION_SHELL:
When using FORM=-14, set ICOMP=1 and B1/B2=0/90. The edgset is a structured nodeset and T1 is the belt
thickness. The under-integrated membrane element (elform=5) is recommended.

Figure 7: Section shell with highlighted parameters that are interesting for modelling 2D belt element systems.

MAT_SEATBELT_2D:
To make use of the coating functionality set FORM=-14. The three new parameters E-, T- and S-COAT
determines the bending properties. If TCOAT is set to a negative value, the coating does not contribute to the
membrane in plane stresses. It is recommended to make use of all three parameters. For the in-plane membrane
behavior four new parameters are introduced: EB, PRBA, PRAB and GAB, which enables control of the
orthotropic material behavior, see figure 8. Apart from that, the strain-rate effects for 2D seatbelt elements is
activated through the LLCID parameter referencing a table instead of a load curve.

Figure 8: Mat seatbelt with highlighted parameters that are interesting for modelling 2D belt element systems.

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