Pedestrian Head Protection During Car To Pedestrian Accidents: In The Event Of Primary Impact With Vehicle And Secondary Impact With Ground

PEDESTRIAN HEAD PROTECTION DURING CAR TO PEDESTRIANACCIDENTS: IN THE EVENT OF PRIMARY IMPACT WITH VEHICLEAND SECONDARY IMPACT WITH GROUNDbyVISHAL GUPTAMay 2014Advisor: Dr. King H. YangCo-advisor: Dr. Trilochan SinghMajor: Mechanical Engineering (Biomechanics)Degree: Doctor of PhilosophyCurrent regulations for assessing pedestrian safety use a simplified test setupthat ignores many real-world factors. In particular, the level of protection is assessedusing a free-motion headform impacting the vehicle’s hood at a fixed angle. As such,this test setup does not capture the effect due to the vehicle front-end profile, nor does itcomprehend injury due to a possible secondary impact of the pedestrian’s head withground. This thesis aims to numerically simulate vehicle to pedestrian crashes todevelop knowledge that may suggest ways to improve safety above and beyond theregulatory tests. Inputs to the simulations include the vehicle front-end profile, impactspeed, and pedestrian size. Outputs include the angle of primary head impact to thehood, the extent of head injury (HIC), and whether or not there is a secondary head impact with the ground. One key finding is that head impact angles, and hence head injury measures, varygreatly due to changes in vehicle front-end profile. This suggests that the current test