Effects of Vehicle Impact Velocity and Front-End Structure on Dynamic Responses of Child Pedestrians

To investigate the effects of vehicle impact velocity and front-end structure on the dynamic responses of child pedestrians, an extensive parametric study was carried out using two child mathematical models at 6 and 15 years old. The effect of the vehicle impact velocity was studied at 30, 40, and 50 km/h in terms of the head linear velocity, impact angle, and head angular velocity as well as various injury parameters concerning the head, chest, pelvis, and lower extremities. The variation of vehicle front-end shape was determined according to the shape corridors of modern vehicles, while the stiffness characteristics of the bumper, hood edge, and hood were varied within stiffness corridors obtained from dynamic component tests. The simulation results show that the vehicle impact speed is of great importance on the kinematics and resulting injury severity of child pedestrians. A significant reduction in all injury parameters can be achieved as the vehicle impact speed decreases to 30 km/h. The head and lower extremities of children are at higher injury risks than other body regions. Older children are exposed to higher injury risks to the head and lower leg, whereas younger ones sustain more severe impact loads to the pelvis and upper leg. The results from factorial analysis indicate that the hood-edge height has a significant effect on the kinematics and head impact responses of children. A higher hood edge could reduce the severity of head impact for younger children, but aggravate the risks of head injury for older ones. A significant interaction exists between the bumper height and the hood-edge height on the head impact responses of younger child. Nevertheless, improving the energy absorption performance of the hood seems effective for mitigating the severity of head injuries for children.     

Effects of vehicle impact velocity and front-end structure on dynamic responses of child pedestrians

To investigate the effects of vehicle impact velocity and front-end structure on the dynamic responses of child pedestrians, an extensive parametric study was carried out using two child mathematical models at 6 and 15 years old. The effect of the vehicle impact velocity was studied at 30, 40, and 50 km/h in terms of the head linear velocity, impact angle, and head angular velocity as well as various injury parameters concerning the head, chest, pelvis, and lower extremities. The variation of vehicle front-end shape was determined according to the shape corridors of modern vehicles, while the stiffness characteristics of the bumper, hood edge, and hood were varied within stiffness corridors obtained from dynamic component tests. The simulation results show that the vehicle impact speed is of great importance on the kinematics and resulting injury severity of child pedestrians. A significant reduction in all injury parameters can be achieved as the vehicle impact speed decreases to 30 km/h. The head and lower extremities of children are at higher injury risks than other body regions. Older children are exposed to higher injury risks to the head and lower leg, whereas younger ones sustain more severe impact loads to the pelvis and upper leg. The results from factorial analysis indicate that the hood-edge height has a significant effect on the kinematics and head impact responses of children. A higher hood edge could reduce the severity of head impact for younger children, but aggravate the risks of head injury for older ones. A significant interaction exists between the bumper height and the hood-edge height on the head impact responses of younger child. Nevertheless, improving the energy absorption performance of the hood seems effective for mitigating the severity of head injuries for children.     

An evaluation of the association between vehicle type and the source and severity of pedestrian injuries

To evaluate the effect of vehicle type (passenger vehicle vs. light truck vehicle) on crash trajectory and on the consequent source and severity of pedestrian injury, we analyzed data from the Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS), conducted by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) from 1994 to 1998. While 62% of the adults in PV (passenger vehicle)-related crashes were carried by the vehicle, such pedestrian-vehicle interaction was observed only in 28% of LTV (light truck vehicle)-adult crashes. Being thrown forward or knocked down were the most common (65%) type of pedestrian-vehicle interactions for LTV-adult crashes. For children, 93% of those struck by LTVs and 46% of those struck by PVs were thrown forward or knocked down. For adults, LTVs were more likely than PVs to cause thorax (37% vs. 20%) and abdomen injuries (33% vs. 18%). For children, LTVs were more likely than PVs to cause injuries to the upper extremity (71% vs. 56%) and abdomen (14% vs. 8%). For adults struck by PVs the most common sources of injury were windshield for head injuries (63%), hood surface for thorax (67%), abdomen (58%), spine (30%), and upper extremity (36%) injuries, and bumper for the lower extremity injuries (60%). The leading causes of injury for adult-LTV crashes were ground for head (39%) and upper extremity (37%) injuries, hood edge for thorax (48%) and abdomen (56%) injuries, hood surface for spine injuries (36%), and bumper for lower extremity injuries (45%). For child-PV crashes, ground was the most common source of face (37%) abdomen (83%), spine (43%), and upper extremity injuries (54%). For children hit by LTVs, 52% of face, 67% of abdomen, 100% of spine, and 60% of upper extremity injuries were attributed to ground contacts. Altogether, the major sources of injury were hood surface and windshield for PV-pedestrian crashes and hood surface and hood edge for LTV-pedestrian crashes. Changes in design, such as altering the geometry and stiffness of front-end structures, might be associated with considerable decrease in the frequency and severity of pedestrian injury.     

A study of pedestrian and bicyclist exposure to head injury in passenger car collisions based on accident data and simulations

The objective was to assess head injury risks and kinematics of adult pedestrians and bicyclists in primary impact to the passenger cars and secondary impact to the ground using real world accident data and computer reconstructions of the accidents. For this purpose, a subsample of 402 pedestrians and 940 bicyclists from the GIDAS database, Germany, was used for the statistical analysis, from which 22 pedestrian and 18 bicyclist accidents were further selected for reconstruction. PC-Crash was used to calculate impact conditions, such as vehicle impact velocity, vehicle kinematic sequence, and thrown distance. These conditions were employed to identify the initial conditions in reconstruction in MADYMO program. A comparable analysis was conducted based on the results from accident analysis and computer reconstructions for the impact configurations and the resulting injury patterns of pedestrians and bicyclists in view of head injury risks. Differences in HIC, head-relative impact velocity, linear acceleration, maximum angular velocity and acceleration, contact force, thrown distance, Wrap Around Distance (WAD), and head contact time were evaluated. Injury risk curves were generated by using a logistic regression model for vehicle impact velocity. The results indicate that bicyclists suffered less severe injuries compared with severity of pedestrian injuries. In the selected samples, the AIS 2+ and AIS 3+ head injury risks for pedestrians are 50% probability at impact speed of 38.87 km/h and 54.39 km/h respectively, while for bicyclists at 53.66 km/h and 58.89 km/h respectively. The findings of high injury risks suggested that in the area with high frequency car-pedestrian accidents, the vehicle speed limit should be 40 km/h, while in the area with high frequency car-cyclist accidents the vehicle speed limit should be 50 km/h.     

Effects of vehicle impact velocity, vehicle front-end shapes on pedestrian injury risk

Objective: This study aimed at investigating the effects of vehicle impact velocity, vehicle front-end shape, and pedestrian size on injury risk to pedestrians in collisions with passenger vehicles with various frontal shapes. Method: A series of parametric studies was carried out using 2 total human model for safety (THUMS) pedestrian models (177 and 165?cm) and 4 vehicle finite element (FE) models with different front-end shapes (medium-size sedan, minicar, one-box vehicle, and sport utility vehicle [SUV]). The effects of the impact velocity on pedestrian injury risk were analyzed at velocities of 20, 30, 40, and 50?km/h. The dynamic response of the pedestrian was investigated, and the injury risk to the head, chest, pelvis, and lower extremities was compared in terms of the injury parameters head injury criteria (HIC), chest deflection, and von Mises stress distribution of the rib cage, pelvis force, and bending moment diagram of the lower extremities. Result: Vehicle impact velocity has the most significant influence on injury severity for adult pedestrians. All injury parameters can be reduced in severity by decreasing vehicle impact velocities. The head and lower extremities are at greater risk of injury in medium-size sedan and SUV collisions. The chest injury risk was particularly high in one-box vehicle impacts. The fracture risk of the pelvis was also high in one-box vehicle and SUV collisions. In minicar collisions, the injury risk was the smallest if the head did not make contact with the A-pillar. Conclusion: The vehicle impact velocity and vehicle front-end shape are 2 dominant factors that influence the pedestrian kinematics and injury severity. A significant reduction of all injuries can be achieved for all vehicle types when the vehicle impact velocity is less than 30?km/h. Vehicle designs consisting of a short front-end and a wide windshield area can protect pedestrians from fatalities. The results also could be valuable in the design of a pedestrian-friendly vehicle front-end shape. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Traffic Injury Prevention for the following free supplemental resource: Head impact conditions and injury parameters in four-type vehicle collisions and validation result of the finite element model of one-box vehicle and minicar. ].     

行人与轿车正碰后卷绕型运动形态仿真研究*

为研究行人与轿车正碰后卷绕型运动形态规律以及行人损伤情况,基于PC Crash和MADYMO软件进行仿真分析。分析不同发动机罩倾斜程度对行人抛距的影响,以及不同车速、行人走向、前挡风玻璃倾角对行人头部、胸腔的损伤影响,最后通过CIDAS数据库中的3起真实案例进行验证。结果表明:分段抛距公式不仅能反映行人抛距变化趋势,而且在2个分段范围内均能较好地拟合实际抛距,平均误差为4.23%,实际案例验证的结果误差在5%以内,证明实验方法的准确性。     

Analysis of running child pedestrians impacted by a vehicle using rigid-body models and optimization techniques

Lack of information from vehicle-to-child pedestrian impacts provides considerable challenges when developing vehicle countermeasures for the pediatric population. Crash reconstructions of real-world incidents provide useful information about the vehicle damage and injury outcome but do not permit definitive and quantitative measures of the impact severity given the high level of uncertainty in the initial conditions of the pedestrian and the vehicle prior the impact. This paper develops an advanced methodology for reconstructing child pedestrian–vehicle impacts that combines the crash data with multi-body simulations and optimization techniques for identifying the pedestrian posture and vehicle speed prior to impact. For the child pedestrian posture, a continuous sequence of the running gait was developed based on the literature data and simulations. Using vehicle damage information from an actual child pedestrian crash, an objective function was developed that minimized the difference between vehicle and pedestrian contact points for the simulated child postures, pedestrian, and vehicle speeds. Simulated annealing and genetic optimization algorithms were used to identify sets of potential solutions for the pedestrian and vehicle initial conditions. Local minimums were observed for several response surfaces of the objective function which shows the non-convex nature of the crash reconstruction optimization problem with the chosen objective function. Based on the results of the real-world reconstruction, this study indicates that numerical simulations coupled with heuristic optimization algorithms can be used to reconstruct child pedestrian and vehicle pre-impact conditions.     

A study on chest injury mechanism and the effectiveness of a headform impact test for pedestrian chest protection from vehicle collisions

This study was aimed at investigating the injury mechanism of pedestrian chests in collisions with passenger vehicles of various frontal shapes and examining the influence of the local structural stiffness on the chest injury risk by using the headform impact test at the chest contact area of the vehicle. Three simulations of vehicle to pedestrian collisions were conducted using three validated pedestrian finite element (FE) models of three pedestrian heights of 177 (AM50th), 165 and 150 cm and three FE vehicles models representing a one-box vehicle, a minicar and a medium car. The validity of the vehicle models was evaluated by comparing the headform acceleration against the measured responses from headform impact tests. The chest impact kinematics and the injury mechanisms were analyzed in terms of the distribution of the von Mises stress of the ribcage and in terms of the chest deflections. The chest contact locations on the front panel and the bonnet top were identified in connection to the causation of rib fractures. The risk of rib fractures was predicted by using the von Mises stress distribution. The headform impact tests were carried out at the chest contact area on the front panel and bonnet to examine the safety performance with respect to pedestrian chest protection. In simulations of the one-box vehicle to pedestrian collisions, the chest was struck directly by the frontal structure at a high velocity and deformed substantially, since a shear force was generated by the stiff windshield frame. The acceleration of the headform was related to the rib deflections. The injury threshold of the ribcage deflection (42 mm) corresponded to the headform average acceleration of 68 G. In the minicar collision, the chest was struck with the bonnet top and cowl area at a low velocity, and the deformation was small due to the distributed contact force between the chest and the bonnet top. Besides, the ribcage deformation was too small for bridging a relation between the headform accelerations and rib deflections. In the medium car collision, the deformation mode of the chest was similar to that in the minicar collision. The chest collided with the bonnet top at a low velocity and deformed uniformly. The deflection of the ribs had an observable correlation with the headform accelerations measured in the headform impact tests. The frontal shape of a vehicle has a large influence on a pedestrian’s chest loadings, and the chest deformation depends on the size of the pedestrian and the stiffness of the vehicle. The one-box passenger vehicle causes a high chest injury risk. The headform impactor test can be utilized for the evaluation of the local stiffness of a vehicle’s frontal structure. The reduction of the headform acceleration is an effective measure for pedestrian chest protection for specific shapes of vehicles by efficacy in modifying the local structural stiffness.     

Analysis of pedestrian-to-ground impact injury risk in vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions based on rotation angles

IntroductionDue to the diversity of pedestrian-to-ground impact (secondary impact) mechanisms, secondary impacts always result in more unpredictable injuries as compared to the vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions (primary impact). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of vehicle frontal structure, vehicle impact velocity, and pedestrian size and gait on pedestrian-to-ground impact injury risk.MethodA total of 600 simulations were performed using the MADYMO multi-body system and four different sizes of pedestrians and six types initial gait were considered and impacted by five vehicle types at five impact velocities, respectively. The pedestrian rotation angle ranges (PRARs) (a, b, c, d) were defined to identify and classify the pedestrian rotation angles during the ground impact.ResultsThe PRARs a, b, and c were the ranges primarily observed during the pedestrian landing. The PRAR has a significant influence on pedestrian-to-ground impact injuries. However, there was no correlation between the vehicle velocity and head injury criterion (HIC) caused by the secondary impact. In low velocity collisions (20, 30 km/h), the severity of pedestrian head injury risk caused by the secondary impact was higher than that resulting from the primary impact.ConclusionsThe PRARs defined in this study are highly correlated with the pedestrian-to-ground impact mechanism, and can be used to further analyze the pedestrian secondary impact and to predict the head injury risk.Practical applicationsTo reduce the pedestrian secondary impact injury risk, passive and active safety countermeasures should be considered together to prevent the pedestrian's head-to-ground impacts, particularly in the low-velocity collisions.     

Finite Element Analysis of Knee Injury Risks in Car-to-Pedestrian Impacts

In vehicle–pedestrian collisions, lower extremities of pedestrians are frequently injured by vehicle front structures. In this study, a finite element (FE) model of THUMS (total human model for safety) was modified in order to assess injuries to a pedestrian lower extremity. Dynamic impact responses of the knee joint of the FE model were validated on the basis of data from the literature. Since in real-world accidents, the vehicle bumper can impact the lower extremities in various situations, the relations between lower extremity injury risk and impact conditions, such as between impact location, angle, and impactor stiffness, were analyzed. The FE simulation demonstrated that the motion of the lower extremity may be classified into a contact effect of the impactor and an inertia effect from a thigh or leg. In the contact phase, the stress of the bone is high in the area contacted by the impactor, which can cause fracture. Thus, in this phase the impactor stiffness affects the fracture risk of bone. In the inertia phase, the behavior of the lower extremity depends on the impact locations and angles, and the knee ligament forces become high according to the lower extremity behavior. The force of the collateral ligament is high compared with other knee ligaments, due to knee valgus motions in vehicle-pedestrian collisions.     

Turning at intersections and pedestrian injuries

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if precrash vehicle movement is associated with the severity of pedestrian injury. METHODS: We used comprehensive information on pedestrian, vehicle, and injury-related characteristics gathered in the Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS), conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (1994-1998). The odds ratio of severe injuries (injury severity score >/= 15) and crash fatality rate for right- and left-turn collisions at intersection compared with straight vehicle movement were compared using a logistic regression model and taking into consideration the type of vehicle and age of the pedestrians as potential effect modifiers. Later we evaluated the intermediate effect of impact speed on the association by adding it to the logistic regression model. RESULTS: Of 255 collisions eligible for this analysis, the proportion of pedestrian hit during straight movement, right turns, and left turns were 48%, 32%, and 10%, respectively. Sixty percent of the pedestrians in left-turn crashes and 67% of them in right-turn collisions were hit from their left side. For straight movements the pedestrians were equally likely to be struck beginning from the left or right side of the street.After adjustment for pedestrian's age, vehicle movement was a significant predictor of severe injuries (p < 0.0001) and case fatality (p = 0.003). The association between vehicle precrash movement and severe injuries (p = 0.551) and case fatality (p = 0.912) vanished after adjusting for impact speed. This indicated that the observed association was probably the result of the difference in impact speed and not the precrash movement of the vehicle. CONCLUSION: Pedestrian safety interventions that aim at environmental modifications, such as crosswalk repositioning, might be the most efficient means in reducing right- or left-turn collisions at intersection, while pedestrians' behavioral modifications should be the priority for alleviating the magnitude of the collisions that happen in vehicles' straight movements.     

Study of the possible relationships between tramway front-end geometry and pedestrian injury risk

Objectives: The aim of this article is to report on the possible relationships between tramway front-end geometry and pedestrian injury risk over a wide range of possible tramway shapes.

Methods: To study the effect of tramway front-end shape on pedestrian injury metrics, accidents were simulated using a custom parameterized model of tramway front-end and pedestrian models available with the MADYMO multibody solver. The approach was automated, allowing the systematic exploration of tramway shapes in conjunction with 4 pedestrian sizes (e.g., 50th percentile male or M50).

Results: A total of 8,840 simulations were run, showing that the injury risk is more important for the head than for other body regions (thorax and lower extremities). The head of the M50 impacted the windshield of the tramway in most of the configurations. Two antagonist mechanisms affecting impact velocity of the head and corresponding head injury criterion (HIC) values were observed. The first is a trunk rotation resulting from an engagement of the lower body that can contribute to an increase in head velocity in the direction of the tram. The second is the loading of the shoulder, which can accelerate the upper trunk and head away from the windshield, resulting in lower impact velocities. Groups of design were defined based on 2 main parameters (windshield height and offset), some of which seem more beneficial than others for tramway design. The pedestrian size and tramway velocity (30 vs. 20?km/h) also affected the results.

Conclusions: When considering only the front-end shape, the best strategy to limit the risk of head injury due to contact with the stiff windshield seems to be to promote the mechanism involving shoulder loading. Because body regions engaged vary with the pedestrian size, none of the groups of designs performed equally well for all pedestrian sizes. The best compromise is achieved with a combination of a large windscreen offset and a high windscreen. Conversely, particularly unfavorable configurations are observed for low windshield heights, especially with a large offset. Beyond the front-end shape, considering the stiffness of the current windshields and the high injury risks predicted for 30?km/h, the stiffness of the windshield should be considered in the future for further gains in pedestrian safety.     

The influence of lower extremity postures on kinematics and injuries of cyclists in vehicle side collisions

Objective: A cyclist assumes various cyclic postures of the lower extremities while pushing the pedals in a rotary motion while pedaling. In order to protect cyclists in collisions, it is necessary to understand what influence these postures have on the global kinematics and injuries of the cyclist.

Method: Finite element (FE) analyses using models of a cyclist, bicycle, and car were conducted. In the simulations, the Total Human Model of Safety (THUMS) occupant model was employed as a cyclist, and the simulation was set up such that the cyclist was hit from its side by a car. Three representative postures of the lower extremities of the cyclist were examined, and the kinematics and injury risk of the cyclist were compared to those obtained by a pedestrian FE model. The risk of a lower extremity injury was assessed based on the knee shear displacement and the tibia bending moment.

Results: When the knee position of the cyclist was higher than the hood leading edge, the hood leading edge contacted the leg of the cyclist, and the pelvis slid over the hood top and the wrap-around distance (WAD) of the cyclist's head was large. The knee was shear loaded by the hood leading edge, and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptured. The tibia bending moment was less than the injury threshold. When the cyclist's knee position was lower than the hood leading edge, the hood leading edge contacted the thigh of the cyclist, and the cyclist rotated with the femur as the pivot point about the hood leading edge. In this case, the head impact location of the cyclist against the car was comparable to that of the pedestrian collision. The knee shear displacement and the tibia bending moment were less than the injury thresholds.

Conclusion: The knee height of the cyclist relative to the hood leading edge affected the global kinematics and the head impact location against the car. The loading mode of the lower extremities was also dependent on the initial positions of the lower extremities relative to the car structures. In the foot up and front posture, the knee was loaded in a lateral shear direction by the hood leading edge and as a result the ACL ruptured. The bicycle frame and the struck-side lower extremity interacted and could influence the loadings on lower extremities.     

Head injuries in child pedestrian accidents--in-depth case analysis and reconstructions

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate head injuries, injury risks, and corresponding tolerance levels of children in car-to--child pedestrian collisions. METHODS: An in-depth accident analysis was carried out based on 23 accident cases involving child pedestrians. These cases were collected with detailed information about pedestrians, cars, and road environments. All 23 accidents were reconstructed using the MADYMO program with mathematical models of passenger cars and child pedestrians developed at Chalmers University of Technology. The contact properties of the car models were derived from the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) subsystem tests. RESULTS: The accident analysis demonstrated that the head was the most frequently and severely injured body part of child pedestrians. Most accidents occurred at impact speeds lower than 40 km/h and 98% of the child pedestrians were impacted from the lateral direction. The initial postures of children at the moment of impact were identified. Nearly half (47%) of the children were running, which was remarkable compared with the situation of adult pedestrians. From accident reconstructions it was found that head impact conditions and injury severities were dependent on the shape and stiffness of the car front, impact velocity, and stature of the child pedestrian. Head injury criteria and corresponding tolerance levels were analyzed and discussed by correlating the calculated injury parameters with the injury outcomes in the accidents. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing head injuries should be set as a priority in the protection of child pedestrians. HIC is an important injury criterion for predicting the risks of head injuries in child pedestrian accidents. The tolerance level of head injuries can have a considerable variation due to individual differences of the child pedestrians. By setting a suitable speed limit and improving the design of car front, the head injury severities of child pedestrians can be reduced.     

Assessment of Integrated Pedestrian Protection Systems with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Passive Safety Components

Objective: Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems fitted to cars for pedestrians have been predicted to offer substantial benefit. On this basis, consumer rating programs—for example, the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP)—are developing rating schemes to encourage fitment of these systems. One of the questions that needs to be answered to do this fully is how the assessment of the speed reduction offered by the AEB is integrated with the current assessment of the passive safety for mitigation of pedestrian injury. Ideally, this should be done on a benefit-related basis.

The objective of this research was to develop a benefit-based methodology for assessment of integrated pedestrian protection systems with AEB and passive safety components. The method should include weighting procedures to ensure that it represents injury patterns from accident data and replicates an independently estimated benefit of AEB.

Methods: A methodology has been developed to calculate the expected societal cost of pedestrian injuries, assuming that all pedestrians in the target population (i.e., pedestrians impacted by the front of a passenger car) are impacted by the car being assessed, taking into account the impact speed reduction offered by the car's AEB (if fitted) and the passive safety protection offered by the car's frontal structure. For rating purposes, the cost for the assessed car is normalized by comparing it to the cost calculated for a reference car.

The speed reductions measured in AEB tests are used to determine the speed at which each pedestrian in the target population will be impacted. Injury probabilities for each impact are then calculated using the results from Euro NCAP pedestrian impactor tests and injury risk curves. These injury probabilities are converted into cost using “harm”-type costs for the body regions tested. These costs are weighted and summed. Weighting factors were determined using accident data from Germany and Great Britain and an independently estimated AEB benefit. German and Great Britain versions of the methodology are available. The methodology was used to assess cars with good, average, and poor Euro NCAP pedestrian ratings, in combination with a current AEB system. The fitment of a hypothetical A-pillar airbag was also investigated.

Results: It was found that the decrease in casualty injury cost achieved by fitting an AEB system was approximately equivalent to that achieved by increasing the passive safety rating from poor to average. Because the assessment was influenced strongly by the level of head protection offered in the scuttle and windscreen area, a hypothetical A-pillar airbag showed high potential to reduce overall casualty cost.

Conclusions: A benefit-based methodology for assessment of integrated pedestrian protection systems with AEB has been developed and tested. It uses input from AEB tests and Euro NCAP passive safety tests to give an integrated assessment of the system performance, which includes consideration of effects such as the change in head impact location caused by the impact speed reduction given by the AEB.     

人车碰撞中行人大腿保护研究

研究提高人车碰撞中行人大腿的保护性能的方法。首先对大腿伤害机理,伤害评价指标以及车辆自身结构进行阐述和研究,总结车辆前端结构的关键参数;对某车型的前大灯进行结构改进,按照欧洲新车安全评鉴协会(Euro NCAP)行人大腿保护的试验评价方法,改进后进行碰撞试验;建立装有发动机罩安全气囊的整车仿真模型,验证安全气囊对行人大腿的保护性能。经过试验和仿真可以得出:车辆前大灯结构刚度改进和发动机罩安全气囊可以改善行人大腿的保护性能。     

A virtual test system representing the distribution of pedestrian impact configurations for future vehicle front-end optimization

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to define a computationally efficient virtual test system (VTS) to assess the aggressivity of vehicle front-end designs to pedestrians considering the distribution of pedestrian impact configurations for future vehicle front-end optimization. The VTS should represent real-world impact configurations in terms of the distribution of vehicle impact speeds, pedestrian walking speeds, pedestrian gait, and pedestrian height. The distribution of injuries as a function of body region, vehicle impact speed, and pedestrian size produced using this VTS should match the distribution of injuries observed in the accident data. The VTS should have the predictive ability to distinguish the aggressivity of different vehicle front-end designs to pedestrians.

Methods: The proposed VTS includes 2 parts: a simulation test sample (STS) and an injury weighting system (IWS). The STS was defined based on MADYMO multibody vehicle to pedestrian impact simulations accounting for the range of vehicle impact speeds, pedestrian heights, pedestrian gait, and walking speed to represent real world impact configurations using the Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS) and anthropometric data. In total 1,300 impact configurations were accounted for in the STS. Three vehicle shapes were then tested using the STS. The IWS was developed to weight the predicted injuries in the STS using the estimated proportion of each impact configuration in the PCDS accident data. A weighted injury number (WIN) was defined as the resulting output of the VTS. The WIN is the weighted number of average Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 2+ injuries recorded per impact simulation in the STS. Then the predictive capability of the VTS was evaluated by comparing the distributions of AIS 2+ injuries to different pedestrian body regions and heights, as well as vehicle types and impact speeds, with that from the PCDS database. Further, a parametric analysis was performed with the VTS to assess the sensitivity of the injury predictions to changes in vehicle shape (type) and stiffness to establish the potential for using the VTS for future vehicle front-end optimization.

Results: An STS of 1,300 multibody simulations and an IWS based on the distribution of impact speed, pedestrian height, gait stance, and walking speed is broadly capable of predicting the distribution of pedestrian injuries observed in the PCDS database when the same vehicle type distribution as the accident data is employed. The sensitivity study shows significant variations in the WIN when either vehicle type or stiffness is altered.

Conclusions: Injury predictions derived from the VTS give a good representation of the distribution of injuries observed in the PCDS and distinguishing ability on the aggressivity of vehicle front-end designs to pedestrians. The VTS can be considered as an effective approach for assessing pedestrian safety performance of vehicle front-end designs at the generalized level. However, the absolute injury number is substantially underpredicted by the VTS, and this needs further development.     

Census Study of Real-Life Near-Side Crashes with Modern Side Airbag-Equipped Vehicles in the United States

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the crash characteristics, injury distribution, and injury mechanisms for Maximum Abbreviated Injury Score (MAIS) 2+ injured belted, near-side occupants in airbag-equipped modern vehicles. Furthermore, differences in injury distribution for senior occupants compared to non-senior occupants was investigated, as well as whether the near-side occupant injury risk to the head and thorax increases or decreases with a neighboring occupant.

Method: National Automotive Sampling System's Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) data from 2000 to 2012 were searched for all side impacts (GAD L&R, all principal direction of force) for belted occupants in modern vehicles (model year > 1999). Rollovers were excluded, and only front seat occupants over the age of 10 were included. Twelve thousand three hundred fifty-four MAIS 2+ injured occupants seated adjacent to the intruding structure (near-side) and protected by at least one deployed side airbag were studied. To evaluate the injury risk influenced by the neighboring occupant, odds ratio with an induced exposure approach was used.

Result: The most typical crash occurred either at an intersection or in a left turn where the striking vehicle impacted the target vehicle at a 60 to 70° angle, resulting in a moderate change of velocity (delta-V) and intrusion at the B-pillar. The head, thorax, and pelvis were the most frequent body regions with rib fracture the most frequent specific injury. A majority of the head injuries included brain injuries without skull fracture, and non-senior rather than senior occupants had a higher frequency of head injuries on the whole. In approximately 50% of the cases there was a neighboring occupant influencing injury outcome.

Conclusion: Compared to non-senior occupants, the senior occupants sustained a considerably higher rate of thoracic and pelvis injuries, which should be addressed by improved thorax side airbag protection. The influence on near-side occupant injury risk by the neighboring occupant should also be further evaluated. Furthermore, side airbag performance and injury assessments in intersection crashes, especially those involving senior occupants in lower severities, should be further investigated and side impact dummy biofidelity and injury criteria must be determined for these crash scenarios.     

A 6-year survey of road traffic accidents in Southwest China: Emphasis on traumatic brain injury

Background: The objective of this study is to provide an up-to-date overview of the patterns of injuries, especially traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by RTAs and to discuss some of the public health consequences. Methods: A scientific team was established to collect road traffic accidents occurring between 2013 and 2018 in Chongqing, Southwest China. For each accident, the environment-, vehicle-, and person- variables were analyzed and determined. The overall injury distribution and TBI patterns of four types of road users (driver, passenger, motorcyclist and pedestrian) were compared. The environmental and time distribution of accidents with TBI were shown by bar and pie chart. The risks of severe brain injury whether motorcyclist wearing helmets or not were compared and the risk factors of severe TBI in pedestrian were determined by odds ratio analysis. Results: This study enrolled 2131 accidents with 2741 persons of all kind of traffic participants, 1149 of them suffered AIS1+ head injury and 1598(58%) died in 7 days. The most common cause of deaths is due to head injury with 714(85%) and 1266(79%) persons died within 2 hours. Among 423 persons suffered both skull fracture and intracranial injury, 102 (24.1%) have an intracranial injury but no skull fractures, while none of the skull fractures without intracranial injury was found. Besides, motorcyclists without a helmet were at higher risks for all the brain injury categories. The risk of pedestrian suffering severe TBI at an impact speed of more than 70 km/h is 100 times higher than that with an impact speed of less than 40 km/h. Conclusion: It is urgently needed to develop a more reliable brain injury evaluation criterion for better protection of the road users. We believe that strengthening the emergency care to head injury at the scene is the most effective way to reduce traffic fatality.     

Finite element analysis of knee injury risks in car-to-pedestrian impacts

In vehicle-pedestrian collisions, lower extremities of pedestrians are frequently injured by vehicle front structures. In this study, a finite element (FE) model of THUMS (total human model for safety) was modified in order to assess injuries to a pedestrian lower extremity. Dynamic impact responses of the knee joint of the FE model were validated on the basis of data from the literature. Since in real-world accidents, the vehicle bumper can impact the lower extremities in various situations, the relations between lower extremity injury risk and impact conditions, such as between impact location, angle, and impactor stiffness, were analyzed. The FE simulation demonstrated that the motion of the lower extremity may be classified into a contact effect of the impactor and an inertia effect from a thigh or leg. In the contact phase, the stress of the bone is high in the area contacted by the impactor, which can cause fracture. Thus, in this phase the impactor stiffness affects the fracture risk of bone. In the inertia phase, the behavior of the lower extremity depends on the impact locations and angles, and the knee ligament forces become high according to the lower extremity behavior. The force of the collateral ligament is high compared with other knee ligaments, due to knee valgus motions in vehicle-pedestrian collisions.