ROTATIONAL ACCELERATION MEASUREMENT FOR PEDESTRIAN HEAD IMPACT

Nowadays, a key point in automotive design is the protection of the Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), pedestrians and cyclists. Usually, to measure the injuries caused to the head by an impact between a pedestrian and a vehicle, the Head Injury Criterion (HIC) is used. However, this parameter only considers the linear accelerations of the head, while it has been demonstrated that the rotational accelerations are also quite important for the occurrence of damage of the head. From that perspective, this paper investigates in more detail the measure of the rotational accelerations obtained with a special experimental equipment developed by the authors to perform head impact tests, on steel and aluminium bonnets. This data was then looked into to find the influence of some of the physical parameters involved in the rotational accelerations. The results of this study show which parameters have to be taken into particular consideration in the experimental tests. Furthermore, working on these parameters in the design phase can help to reduce injuries to the head for pedestrians.