Effects of microbus front structure on pedestrian head injury

Abstract

In order to study the effects of the microbus front structure on pedestrian head injury happened in pedestrian-microbus collisions, the mathematic models of the impact angle and microbus front configuration are developed, which illustrate the relationship between the impact angle, pedestrian size and oblique angles of the engine hood and windscreen. The mathematic models are then verified by simulating experiments using LY-Dyna. The impact angle α, which is measured between the contact surface and the pedestrian head's impact direction at the contact point, is an important parameter indicating the relationship of pedestrian head injury with the microbus front structure. The analysis and simulation results reveal that: 1) in the case of collision with the windscreen, the pedestrian head injury increases while α increases; 2) in the case of collision with the engine hood, the pedestrian head incurs the most serious injury when α = 90°, the pedestrian head injury increases while α increases when α 90°. Six microbus models are taken as examples to verify the results obtained.