Investigation of the hyperelastic material coated steel car hood concerning pedestrian head impact protection using finite element method

Abstract

Pedestrians are the high-risk group in vehicle accidents, especially in urban areas. In the world, every year numerous pedestrians die by vehicle impacts. Therefore, the pedestrian protection is one of the most crucial subjects in automotive manufacturers, and many governments are releasing more drastic regulations. However, in the traffic there is a considerable amount of the cars running which have been produced before pedestrian safety regulations. In this study, the pedestrian head impact on an energy absorber material covered steel bonnet was investigated by finite element method. The pedestrian head impact is the first reason for the fatality in the vehicle-pedestrian accidents. The pedestrian head-form is used for simulations according to EEVC/WG17 regulations. The foam cover and hood thicknesses are the parameters in the impact simulations. Results of the impact analyses are compared with each other by head injury criterion calculations. The head injury criterion values are accepted for measuring pedestrian's head injury level. In the study, various thickness hyperelastic foams were used in top layer as a cover. Moreover, also developed layered structure designs by steel, and hyperelastic material layers were discussed on light-weighting.