Abstract: In view of that the single-chamber side airbag of a vehicle made in China ‘broke down’ during side collision process, a multi-chamber side airbag with multi-chamber independent control and secondary buffering function is proposed and simulated. The results show that the novel multi-chamber side airbag has good protection effects of occupant’s thorax and abdomen with ‘break down’ phenomenon eliminated. Then orthogonal experiment is conducted to optimize the parameters related to the protection effect of airbag. After optimization the value of comprehensive injury indicator C reduces by 14.77% and is 31.35% lower than the original airbag, enhancing the protection effect of side airbag.

Key words: side impact, multi-chamber side airbag, simulation, orthogonal experiment, optimization