INFLUENCE OF DECELERATION PULSE ON DRIVER INJURY LEVELS IN VEHICLE-TO-VEHICLE COLLISIONS

Single Case Studies of real world accidents indicate a strong correlation between the loss of compartment integrity and critical injuries in frontal vehicle-to-vehicle collisions. If the compartment still offers survival space, occupants have been found to survive even relativvly high velocity changes. This observation shows that modern restraint systems offer more protection than expected. The findings of real world accident data analysis are supported by theoretical simulation results. In an accident, the force deflection characteristic of the heavier vehicle's front-end is the main determinant of the deceleration pulse of the lighter vehicle. Idealised force-deflection-characteristics were used to generate the deceleration pulses of passenger vehicles, at desired g-levels, in frontal car-to-car collisions. These pulses formed the basis to calculate the injury levels of drivers in the lighter vehicle utilizing Madymo computer simulations of occupant kinematics. This paper shows that with appropriate restraint system function, acceptable occupant load levels can be achieved in severe vehicle-to-vehicle collisions even in case of high deceleration levels of the compartment. For the covering abstract see ITRD E117734.

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• Authors:
  • SCHWARZ, T
  • Busch, S
  • ZOBEL, R
• Conference:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VEHICLE SAFETY 2002, HELD MAY 2002 AT THE IMECHE HEADQUARTERS, LONDON, UK
• Publication Date: 2002

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 149-56

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crashes; Deceleration; Drivers; Energy; Frontal crashes; Injuries; Loss and damage; Vehicles
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 5416: Deceleration; 1772: Driver; 213: Energy; 1640: Head on collision; 2163: Injury; 9040: Loss; 1255: Vehicle
• Subject Areas: Energy; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00944663
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 1-86058-388-1
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Jul 7 2003 12:00AM