Determination and analysis of the head and chest parameters by simulation of a vehicle–teenager impact

Abstract

This paper reports the results of multi-body numerical simulation of a vehicle crash with a teenager pedestrian. A previous technique utilized for adult pedestrian impact is applied. The work starts with the determination of the masses for the various segments of the body of a teenager with a total mass of 45 kg and then switches to the construction of the dummy and the middle-class vehicle in the Visual Nastran environment. Simulations are performed for both frontal impacts and lateral impacts, when the vehicle is travelling at a constant speed and when the vehicle is braking, following the Euro NCAP rules on the subject. The results are analysed by calculating the values of the head injury criterion for the head and the values of the thoracic trauma index and 3 ms criterion for the chest; the injuries are assessed according to the current interpretation. Abbreviated injury scale curves are used to determine the dangerousness of the impact. Finally, the results are close to those obtained by applying the same technique to an adult pedestrian and other available data in the literature for an adult or a child.