Effect of humidity on pedestrian legform impactor-to-car bumper impact test results

Abstract

The effect of humidity on the measured injury criteria of the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) legform impactor in the bumper impact test was evaluated. The following investigations were conducted in two different humidity conditions – 30% and 60% relative humidity (RH) environments. First, dynamic certification tests were conducted. Second, legform impactor-to-bumper impact tests using two sedan cars were conducted to capture the trend in results for different cars. Third, to clarify the mechanism of the effect of humidity on the measured criteria, numerical simulations were conducted using newly developed finite element models of the dynamic certification test and a bumper impact test for one sedan car. In the legform impactor-to-bumper impact tests and the numerical simulation, the measured injury criteria used were the same for the two humidity conditions. The results indicate that the humidity condition does not affect any injury measure in the legform impactor-to-bumper impact test. The numerical simulation elucidated the mechanism of the effect of humidity on the measured criteria of the legform impactor.