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The efficacy of woven jute‐polyester (JP) composite tubes as structural energy‐absorbing countermeasures has been explored in the current study. In this connection, the behaviors of 3‐ply and 4‐ply JP composite tubes of square and double‐hat shaped sections subjected to axial quasi‐static and impact loads are considered, and compared with 4‐ply glass‐polyester (GP) tubes of similar geometric configurations. Initially, basic mechanical characterization of JP laminates is carried out using a Universal Testing Machine, which is followed up with axial quasi‐static and drop‐weight impact testing of JP tubes, along with similar tests carried out on GP tubes. A thorough comparison is made between the performances including failure patterns of JP and GP components under axial loading using metrics such as peak load, mean crush load, absorbed energy, and specific energy absorption (SEA). As many structural applications involve dynamic bending loads, a comparative study is carried out between double‐hat JP and GP components subjected to transverse impact loading. Based on the competitive values of mean load and SEA yielded by jute‐composite tubes in the present study for axial impact loading, and high mean load and moderate energy absorption till failure recorded by similar components under three‐point impact bending, it can be concluded that JP tubes can be capable of supporting impact loads under both axial and bending modes.

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The current paper describes a simple and yet comprehensive lumped-parameter model (LPM) for simulating the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) side-impact safety tests for passenger vehicles. The LPM includes new lumped masses, not previously reported in a single multibody model, for key vehicle side-structure systems identified with the help of an energy-based study conducted using explicit finite element analysis of two passenger vehicles. In addition to the vehicle side structure, lumped masses for the NHTSA side-impact barrier and ‘rest of vehicle’, the latter implying the mass of the vehicle minus the combined mass of the side-structure subsystems considered in the LPM, have been incorporated so that the total mass of the system corresponds to that of an actual vehicle—barrier system in a NHTSA side-impact test (Lateral Impact New Car Assessment Program (LINCAP) or FMVSS 214). The lumped masses are interconnected with elastic—plastic springs. A unique feature of the present model is the inclusion of two lumped side-impact dummies for obtaining predictions of the front and rear (thoracic trauma index (TTI)). The validity of the present LPM is established by performing LS-DYNA-based LINCAP simulations of two real-world vehicles, namely the Dodge Neon and Dodge Intrepid, and obtaining a reasonably good correlation of the computed structural and occupant responses as well as TTI (front and rear) with the corresponding test results reported by the NHTSA.