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A passenger-bus represents one of the vehicle types that can cause serious damage during the accident. Its frontal crashworthiness may threaten substantial damage to life and property. This is because the design of a bus structure does not meet frontal crashworthiness standards and regulations. Currently, the design of a bus structure and manufacturing in Thailand only focuses on the overturned test. The front crash standard have not been yet considered as structural requirements. This paper introduces a novel design of a passenger-bus considering the frontal crash based on the standard of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Regulation No. 29 (UN ECE-R29). A simulation model was done to determine the structural strength against the produced load considering a full-frontal impact. Finite element analysis was applied to evaluate frontal impacts. As a result, the energy absorption corresponding to the UN ECE-R29 regulation is 55 kJ, while the test model structure could absorb about 52.4 kJ of energy. In fact, the total deformation from the UN ECE-R29 signifies the severe deformation in the frontal structures, which caused the significant damage to the driver dummy. Clearly, reinforcement of the thin-walled tubular construction could improve a bus's structural strength. Consequently, the driver dummy is not affected by the structure's distortion, enhancing the safety and reliability standards for passenger-buses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These days, vehicles are widely developed because of the latest technology. As a result, roadside barriers are used not only to minimize the speed of vehicles but also to prevent crossing into the opposite lanes. Many technologies are used to improve the strength of barriers. On the other hand, the production of natural rubber in Thailand is higher than in other Asian countries. The ministry of transportation is focusing on using rubber in roadside barriers. Therefore, in this study, three different types of vehicles with 920, 1575, and 2013 kg at a constant velocity of 35 mph for frontal impact were used to compare the strength of reinforced concrete barriers with and without natural rubber by using non-linear dynamic finite element analysis. Results proved that the barriers with rubber sheets stored energy absorption better than those without rubber sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]