Analyses of Pedestrian’s Head-to-Windshield Impact Biomechanical Responses and Head Injuries Using a Head Finite Element Model

Abstract

Head injuries in the vehicle crashes or pedestrian accidents can usually cause death or permanent disabilities, and head injuries resulting from the impact of car windshields remain a major problem. Anatomically, more realistic head models are required to more accurately document and evaluate the head-to-windshield impact responses and head injuries. The current study developed a head finite element model and carried out various simulations to investigate the head-to-windshield impact biomechanical responses and assess the head injuries. First, a 50th percentile three-dimensional finite element head model was developed and validated by using previously published cadaver experimental data. Then, the biomechanical responses were predicted under a head-to-windshield impact at different impact velocities (10, 12, and15[Formula: see text]m/s) and different inclination angles of the windshield (35∘, 40∘, and 45∘). Finally, head injuries were investigated through examining various injury parameters. The results indicated that the contact force, the acceleration, the intracranial pressure, the deformation of the skull, and the negative pressure rose when the impact velocity and the inclination angles increased. Thus, the vehicle impact velocity and the inclination angle of the windshield greatly affect the severity of the resulting injuries on pedestrians’ heads, with the severity increasing with the impact velocity and windshield inclination angle.

Analysis of Pedestrian Fractures in Collisions Between Small Cars and Pedestrians Based on Surveillance Videos

“…The injuries caused by collisions between small cars and pedestrians are very complicated and are related to many factors, such as vehicle speed, collision angle, pedestrian height, pedestrian walking direction, pedestrian reaction, and whether the car brakes before the collision. Although there are currently dummy models, 3 mathematical computer simulations, and other research methods, 4–14 dummy models are not able to reveal pathophysiological changes and are expensive, and it is difficult to reconstruct complex anatomic geometric models and accurately reproduce damage patterns in mathematical computer simulations 15 . In contrast, surveillance videos can theoretically capture the entire process of an accident, including the movement of the human body.…”

“…In recent years, computer visual models have been widely used in automobile collision simulations. 4 – 10 …”

“…In recent years, computer visual models have been widely used in automobile collision simulations. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Currently, the models used in collision research on small cars and pedestrians mainly include multi-rigid-body models and finite element models. For example, Liu et al 11,12 used a finite element model to research injuries that occur in humans due to humanvehicle collisions, Han et al 13 used a multirigid-body model and finite element model to research head and chest injuries caused by car-pedestrian collisions, and Yao et al 14 recreated carpedestrian collisions by using multirigid-body and finite element models.…”

“…However, dummy models are expensive and cannot reveal pathophysiological changes. In recent years, computer visual models have been widely used in automobile collision simulations 4–10 …”

Study on Behind Helmet Blunt Trauma Caused by High-Speed Bullet

“…The established finite element model of the brain [25,26] is improved, the skin and the skull have surface-to-surface contact, and other brain tissues are using a self-contact algorithm. The cerebrospinal fluid was modified to be an ALE mesh during the preprocessing, the material was changed to * MAT_ELADTIC_PLUID (MAT_1), and the unit algorithm was ELFORM = 12.…”