Collaboration Advances Occupant Restraint System Improvements

Posted 02/22/2008
Dr. Michael Kokkolaras of the U-M Department of Mechanical Engineering is working with UMTRI to foster collaboration in optimizing occupant protection and vehicle crashworthiness.

Kokkolaras, an associate research scientist in U-M's Department of Mechanical Engineering, has accepted a 20 percent appointment in UMTRI's Biosciences Division. He is working with Matt Reed, research associate professor at UMTRI and U-M Industrial and Operations Engineering, to address the challenge of optimizing restraint system performance for a wide range of occupant characteristics and crash types. This work is made more timely by the stepped-up pressure on manufacturers to increase fuel economy. Improving miles-per-gallon will almost certainly lead to lighter vehicles in many vehicle segments, and lighter vehicles are generally less safe for their occupants, all other factors being equal. Thus, their goal is to help to improve restraint systems so that occupant protection continues to improve even as some types of vehicles become lighter.

Reed previously worked with Kokkolaras on a research project through the Automotive Research Center (ARC), a program funded by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Command (TARDEC). The project involved applying optimization to truck cab layout, which combined Kokkolaras' optimization background with the posture-prediction models developed in UMTRI's Biosciences Division. That collaboration also resulted in a conference paper and journal article over the past few years, and spun off other research activities.

Kokkolaras joined the University in 2000. In addition to his work with ARC, he has been active in the Optimal Design Engineering Laboratory in U-M's Department of Mechanical Engineering, and has conducted research sponsored by a wide range of organizations, including NSF and a number of automotive industry companies. He earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Rice University and a diploma in aerospace engineering from the Technical University of Munich. His research interests include multidisciplinary optimization, design under uncertainty, systems engineering, decomposition and coordination methods for optimal system design, and platform-based design of product families.