Finite Element Study of Head and Chest Injuries in Vehicle Frontal Crashes

Ibrahim Abdullahi Rafukka

Abstract


Finite element (FE) analysis has been applied extensively in the investigation of biomechanical behaviour of human beings in vehicle crash. Specifically, this work, utilizes FE crash simulations to examine the injuries sustained by vehicle occupant for head and chest during frontal impact. LS DYNA software was used to carry out the dynamic simulations using Hybrid III (HIII) dummy model. The effect of speed on the injuries sustained by vehicle occupant on the head and chest was studied. The results indicate that head injury criteria (HIC) and chest acceleration increased with increased in impact speed. Speed of 40 km/h was found to have injury values lower than thresholds for head and chest. High severity of injuries was obtained at higher impact speeds of 46 km/h, 56 km/h and 64 km/h. Crash test was also carried out to determine the effect of airbag in reducing injury levels to the occupant. Air bag drastically minimizes the HIC and chest acceleration. Therefore, the study provides useful information to road safety agents and vehicle designers and users.


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References


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