Author post-print (accepted) deposited by Coventry University's Repository

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

： Vehicle frontal crashworthiness analysis is an important topic in the field automotive community, as it relates to legislative requirements. Frontal crash models contain a large number of elements and therefore present a high computational cost, especially when performing crashworthiness structural performance optimisations. A new numerical methodology is proposed in this paper with the aim to increase computation speed by implementing a sub-modelling approach on the frontal structure-rear wheels (FSRW) method.In this new method, the vehicle body structure behind the rear seats is replaced by a point mass, with an equivalent mass to the rear structure removed, and attached to the rear frame of the front structure and its wheels. This new method was rigorously tested against validated full size vehicle computer models of different classes provided by NHTSA, and included MPV, SUV, van, and sedan, against fixed rigid barrier (FRB), small overlap and a mobile progressive deformable barrier (MPDB) tests. The research has demonstrated that this new sub-modelling approach correlated against all the full size NHTSA computer models in deformations, intrusions, velocities, and accelerations, as well as providing a runtime reduction between 7% and 23%. This new simplified method, which can be easily implemented, is innovative and will have an important impact vehicle design, as it will allow an easier use of optimisation techniques, which will lead to safer vehicles.

A new method for calculating the time-domain (TD) transfer function of ultra-wide band (UWB) antennas, which is used for measuring the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) at VHF, is proposed. The phase of the complex antenna factor is constructed based on the Hilbert transform that describes the relationship between the phase and amplitude of a signal in frequency domain (FD). The detailed steps for calibrating the TD transfer function are discussed, and the calibration uncertainty, whose maximum value equals 2.79 dB, is estimated. The presented method is verified by TEM cell calibration, in which the TD transfer function of a wideband antenna is calculated and used to reconstruct time domain electromagnetic pulse. The results show that the difference between the calibrated result with TEM cell calibration and the reconstructed result is 0.58 dB.

Based on the current methods of damage detection, a new detection damage model was proposed in order to search a more efficient detection method for reinforced concrete high-rise building damage induced by earthquake. This model is based on the regularity of change in the damping ratio of high-rise buildings, and the high order modes, mode participation coefficient and measure method of natural frequency, together with the type of structures, are taken into account in the model. The shaking test results for a model of reinforced concrete high-rise buildings show that the damage detection results based on the proposed model are close to the test results.