Abstract
Currently the use of new materials is becoming even more prevalent in vehicle industry for the lightweight design purpose. The design of engine hood is very important for pedestrian’s safety during a vehicle-pedestrian accident. In order to improve the pedestrian protection performance of the new material engine hood, the radial stiffening rib structure and trapezium sandwich structure engine hoods were proposed in this paper. And an energy-absorbing structure has been designed on the strengthening hinge plate to reduce the pedestrian head injury further more. The simulation results indicate that with new structures, the new material engine hoods have more uniform rigidity and better energy absorbing ability, which would effectively reduce the engine hood intrusion and pedestrian head injuries.
Highlights
The pedestrian is the most vulnerable group in road traffic accidents
In 2011, U.S pedestrian fatalities accounted for 13.6% of the total number of casualties in traffic accidents [1], In 2012, China road accidents caused 65225 deaths and 254075 injuries, pedestrians accounted for 24.96% and 17.57% respectively, which caused huge economic loss and social burden [2]
European Enhanced Vehicle Safety Committee (EEVC) proposes to use the headform impactor tests to verify the pedestrian protection performance of a vehicle engine hood; this method is referenced by various pedestrian protection regulations and vehicle safety research institutions
Summary
The pedestrian is the most vulnerable group in road traffic accidents. In 2011, U.S pedestrian fatalities accounted for 13.6% of the total number of casualties in traffic accidents [1], In 2012, China road accidents caused 65225 deaths and 254075 injuries, pedestrians accounted for 24.96% and 17.57% respectively, which caused huge economic loss and social burden [2]. European Enhanced Vehicle Safety Committee (EEVC) proposes to use the headform impactor tests to verify the pedestrian protection performance of a vehicle engine hood; this method is referenced by various pedestrian protection regulations and vehicle safety research institutions. Due to the mandatory requirements of pedestrian protection regulations, vehicle research & design institutions and vehicle companies have done a lot of subsystem impact tests, and propose some effective measures to improve vehicle pedestrian protection performance [7]. To realize vehicle lightweight design, the use of new materials becomes more and more important, but less research was done to study the pedestrian protection performance of the new materials. Based on the simulation results, the new structure of radial stiffening ribs and trapezium sandwich is proposed to improve the pedestrian protection performance of this new material hood and simultaneously meet the static stiffness requirement
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