School of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China; Trinity Centre for Bioengineering, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, 361024, China.
Accid Anal Prev. 2018 Jun;115:143-150. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2018.03.014. Epub 2018 Mar 20.
Subsystem impactor tests are the main approaches for evaluation of safety performance of vehicle front design for pedestrian protection in legislative regulations. However, the main aspects of vehicle safety for pedestrians are shape and stiffness, and though it is clear that subsystem impact tests encourage lower vehicle front stiffness, it is unclear whether they promote improved vehicle front shapes for pedestrian protection. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the effects of European pedestrian safety regulations on passenger car front shape and pedestrian injury risk using recent German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) pedestrian collision data and numerical simulations. Firstly, a sample of 579 pedestrian collision cases involving 190 different car models between 2000-2015 extracted from the GIDAS was used to compare front-end shapes of passenger cars manufactured before and after the legislative pedestrian safety regulations were introduced in Europe. The focus was on changes in passenger car front shape and differences in pedestrian AIS2+ (Abbreviated Injury Scale at least level 2) leg, pelvis/femur and head injury risk observed in collisions. Multi-body simulations were also used to assess changes in vehicle aggressivity due to the observed changes in vehicle shape. The results show that newer passenger cars tend to have a flatter and wider bumper, higher bonnet leading edge, shorter and steeper bonnet and a shallower windscreen. Both the collision data and the numerical simulations indicate that newer passenger car front bumper designs are significantly safer for pedestrians' legs. However, the results also show that the higher bonnet leading edge in newer passenger cars is poor for pedestrian pelvis/femur protection, even though newer cars show an obviously lower AIS2+ injury risk to younger pedestrians in collisions. Newer cars have a lower AIS2+ head injury risk for pedestrians in collisions, but the numerical analysis indicate that this is not likely due to shape changes in passenger car fronts. Overall, the introduction of pedestrian safety regulations has resulted in reductions in pedestrian injury risk, but further benefits would accrue from tests which promote a lower bonnet leading edge. The influence of vehicle shape on pedestrian head injury risk remains unclear.
子系统碰撞测试是评估车辆前端设计对行人保护的安全性能的主要方法，这在立法法规中有所体现。然而，行人车辆安全的主要方面是形状和刚度，虽然很明显子系统碰撞测试鼓励降低车辆前端的刚度，但尚不清楚它们是否促进了对行人保护的更好的车辆前端形状。因此，本文的目的是使用最近的德国深入事故研究（GIDAS）行人碰撞数据和数值模拟，研究欧洲行人安全法规对乘用车前端形状和行人受伤风险的影响。首先，使用从 GIDAS 中提取的 2000 年至 2015 年间涉及 190 种不同车型的 579 例行人碰撞案例，对在欧洲引入行人安全法规之前和之后制造的乘用车前端形状进行比较。重点是观察到的乘用车前端形状变化以及观察到的行人 AIS2+（损伤程度至少为 2 级）腿部、骨盆/股骨和头部受伤风险的差异。还使用多体模拟来评估由于车辆形状的变化导致的车辆攻击性的变化。结果表明，较新的乘用车往往具有更平坦和更宽的保险杠、更高的发动机罩前缘、更短和更陡的发动机罩以及更浅的挡风玻璃。碰撞数据和数值模拟都表明，较新的乘用车前端保险杠设计对行人腿部明显更安全。然而，结果还表明，在较新的乘用车中，更高的发动机罩前缘对行人骨盆/股骨的保护较差，尽管较新的汽车在碰撞中对年轻行人表现出明显较低的 AIS2+伤害风险。较新的汽车在碰撞中对行人的 AIS2+头部受伤风险较低，但数值分析表明，这可能不是由于乘用车前端的形状变化所致。总体而言，行人安全法规的引入降低了行人受伤风险，但进一步的好处将来自于促进更低的发动机罩前缘的测试。车辆形状对行人头部受伤风险的影响仍不清楚。
