Simulation of car impact to pedestrian lower extremity: influence of different car-front shapes and dummy parameters on test results.

Sled impact tests on mechanical substitutes for a pedestrian were conducted as a preliminary study for the purpose of developing a subsystem test procedure for the assessment of car-front aggressiveness to pedestrian legs. Four mechanical substitutes for a pedestrian were used in the test: the leg of a rotationally symmetrical pedestrian dummy (RSPD) as the representation of a subsystem, a HYBRID-II pedestrian dummy, a modified HYBRID-II pedestrian dummy equipped with a steel bar serving as knee joint, and a RSPD - HYBRID-IIP combined dummy in which the lower part of the RSPD and the upper part of the HYBRID-IIP were connected by a joint in such a way that the movements of the upper part were similar to those in cadaver tests. In the tests the following were evaluated: (i) the influence of vehicle shape on knee response and on vehicle impact force; (ii) the influence of the upper body mass on knee response and on vehicle impact forces; (iii) the influence of the bumper system on knee response, the kinematics of pedestrian mechanical substitute, and on vehicle impact forces; (iv) the influence of pedestrian mechanical substitute characteristics on its kinematics and knee response, and on vehicle impact forces. This paper describes a primary concept when subsystem test methods for the assessment of car-front aggressiveness to pedestrian legs in a car-pedestrian collision are considered.