Analysis of fall kinematics and injury risks in ground impact in car-pedestrian collisions using impulse.

In vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions, pedestrian injuries occur due to contact with the car and the ground. Previous studies investigated pedestrian kinematic behavior using a parameter study or through statistical analysis although the force interaction between the pedestrian and the vehicle has not been considered. In this study, multibody analyses were conducted for vehicle-pedestrian collisions for adult and child pedestrian with various vehicle shapes. The impulse and impulse moment acting on the pedestrian from the vehicle were introduced, and the kinematic behavior, rotation and ground impact of the pedestrian model were examined. It was found that if an impulse moment acts on the pedestrian when the pedestrian re-contacts with the hood of the car, the angular velocity of the pedestrian's torso changes in the opposite direction (away from the car), and the torso angle prior to the ground contact decreases to less than 90°. This re-contact between the pedestrian and the vehicle was more likely to occur for cases where the collision involves an adult pedestrian, lower hood leading edge (HLE), longer hood length, and lower collision velocity. When the pedestrian torso angle in contact with the ground was less than 90°, the head vertical impact velocity with respect to the ground became less than 2.9 m/s which corresponds to the injury threshold of the head. This study demonstrated that pedestrian-vehicle re-contact is crucial for reducing ground injury. The vehicle shape, pedestrian size, and collision velocity can determine whether re-contact of the pedestrian with the vehicle occurs. This can then explain the factors affecting pedestrian ground impact injury (e.g., higher HLE, higher risk of ground head injury for children) that were shown in previous studies. A strategy to mitigate ground injury is to apply enough impulse moment onto the pedestrian's upper body from the hood in order to change the torso angular velocity during re-contact, thus making the torso angle less than 90°prior to the ground contact.

Analysis of kinematic behavior of pedestrians/cyclists in vehicle collisions using impulse.

Objective: In order to further reduce the injury risks to pedestrians/cyclists in vehicle collisions, it is necessary to control pedestrian/cyclist kinematics. To investigate pedestrian/cyclist kinematic behavior from initial contact with the vehicle to the ground contact, it is necessary to evaluate the force interactions between the pedestrian/cyclist body region and the car body during the crash event.Method: Finite element analysis was conducted for models of pedestrians and cyclists being struck by a car around the center, left, and right sides of the front of the vehicle at 40 km/h. The impulse that was applied to each body region of the pedestrian/cyclist by the vehicle body during the impact was employed to analyze the kinematic behavior of the pedestrian/cyclist.Results: An impulse-time history can be separated into three stages. In the first stage, the pedestrian/cyclist was accelerated by the vehicle's forward impulse imparted to the subject due to the lower extremities contacting the bumper and hood leading edge. In the second stage, the pedestrian/cyclist rotates around the hood leading edge. In the third stage, the pedestrian/cyclist was accelerated in the vehicle forward and upward directions by the impulse resulting from the contact of the head and upper extremities with the cowl and the windshield. As the impulse to the lower extremity increased, the wraparound distance (WAD) decreased; however, the pelvis velocity in the forward direction increased.Conclusion: This research employed a new approach using the impulse transmitted to each body region due to contact with the vehicle body and showed that impulse is a useful parameter to understand the process of pedestrian/cyclist kinematics. The impulse relates to the linear and angular velocities of the pedestrian/cyclist at the time of separation from the car, thereby providing useful information to control pedestrian/cyclist falling kinematics prior to the ground impact.