Impulse-Momentum Analysis of Multibody Vehicle-Pedestrian Collision Simulations

More information

Main author

Raymond M. Brach

Co-Authors

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Type of media

PDF

Publication type

Lecture

Publication year

2016

Publisher

25. EVU Congress, Bratislava

Citation

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For purposes of vehicle-pedestrian crash simulation, vehicle speed, vehicle-pedestrian interaction and pedestrian motion are currently related using one of three model types. These are models that relate vehicle speed to: I) throw distance alone (through experimental data and/or mechanics), II) to throw distance and vehicle and roadway parameters such as launch angle, pedestrian-ground drag coefficient and travel distance, vehicle frontal geometry, etc. and III) the use of pedestrian multibody models and vehicle finite element structural parameters. Type I models are simple to use but lack specificity and ability to estimate simulation uncertainty. Multibody simulation models, Type III, are relatively complex, time consuming to carry out but are necessary and appropriate for use with vehicle design and for studying pedestrian safety and injury analysis and mitigation.

This paper presents a comparison of results from a Type II model to results from a multibody, Type III model. The enhanced Han-Brach pedestrian throw model is a Type II model. It uses point-mass impact mechanics to model the vehicle-pedestrian contact phase through the use of impact parameters, namely the coefficient of restitution and impulse ratio (effective friction coefficient). Frontal vehicle geometry such as the vehicle’s hood/bonnet slope and leading edge height is taken into account. Through the use of least-square methods, the Han-Brach model is used to determine the impact parameters corresponding to the Type III MADYMO model simulations published in the 2012 IRCOBI proceedings by Hamacher, et al. These parameters provide an indication of how each MADYMO simulation satisfies Newton’s laws in the form of impulse and momentum.

This is the first time Type II model results have been compared to Type III model output and the first time energy accountability of Type III simulations has been assessed. Using point mass impact equations and the proper values of impact parameters it is shown that the Han-Brach Type II model is capable of producing kinematic results identical or very close to MADYMO simulations. Comparable results include the pedestrian launch angle, launch speed and throw distance. The main finding from comparisons of simulations with impact equation solutions, is that the MADYMO simulations tend to display the counterintuitive trend that as vehicle speeds increase, the collisions become more elastic and display lower friction. That is, as vehicle speed increases, the percentage of kinetic energy lost during the vehicle-pedestrian contact phase decreases. Such trends are opposite to what is found in the literature for mechanical impacts.

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