Investigation on Effects of Whole-Body Kinematics During Collision On Pedestrian Injuries

Recently, pedestrian safety performance of vehicles has been improved by the modification of regulations and new car assessment programs (NCAPs). In particular, safety performance of the bonnet has been improved in terms of head protection by reducing HIC. According to the accident statistics, however, pedestrian fatalities account for a high percentage, and the causes of death include not only head injury but also thoracic and pelvis injuries. Therefore, pedestrian protection technologies need to include protection of these body regions in addition to the head. In order to reduce the number of pedestrian fatalities, this study aimed to investigate the effect of the whole-body kinematics on injury reductions of pedestrians. In a collision between a bonnet-type vehicle and a crossing pedestrian, the whole-body moves in a chain reaction starting from the input to the legs, subsequently transmitted to the pelvis, the thorax, and the head. Therefore, it is expected that controlled pedestrian kinematics from the time of collision will have an effect on the injury to various body regions. In this study, the GHBMC 50th percentile male model and the vehicle model with general bonnet type was used to simulate car-pedestrian collisions. A model composed of spring and shell elements was affixed to the vehicle model to apply controlled loads to the center of gravity of the pedestrian model by changing the stiffness characteristics of the model, and the relationship between the whole-body kinematics of the pedestrian model and the injury values was investigated at a collision speed of 40 km/h. The results confirmed that the angular velocity of the upper body around the center of gravity was reduced by the early input to the pedestrian pelvis, effectively reducing thoracic input and the head injury value. Input to the pelvis depends on the input through the legs and the external force from the vehicle. Since the vehicle used in this study had a low bonnet height, there was little external force from the vehicle to the pelvic region, potentially diminishing the effect of restraining the center of gravity. Since this study used a specific collision speed and a pedestrian size, it is necessary to consider the influence of these factors in a future study. This study clarified that pedestrian kinematics control technology may be one of the effective measures to further reduce pedestrian fatalities.

• Record URL:
  • https://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/esv/27th/
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/23-0068
• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Hidetoshi, Nakamura
  • Hiroyuki, Asanuma
  • Bae, Hyejin
• Conference:
  • 27th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)
  • Location: Yokohama , Japan
  • Date: 2023-4-3 to 2023-4-6
• Publication Date: 2023

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 11p
• Monograph Title: 27th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV): Enhanced and Equitable Vehicle Safety for All: Toward the Next 50 Years

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injuries; Fatalities; Kinematics; Pedestrian vehicle crashes
• Identifier Terms: New Car Assessment Program
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01892156
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 23-0248
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 31 2023 5:09PM