Author(s)

M. Avalle, G. Belingardi & A. Giorda

Abstract

The protection of vulnerable road users in urban traffic is nowadays a major issue in vehicle construction. Numerical techniques to perform virtual tests are of great help in dealing with these vehicle design problems. The objective of this research is the selection of an optimal configuration for a pedestrian protection system based on the adaptive surfaces in Heavy Vehicles (HV). These adaptive surfaces can be an add-on solution for the front grille and bumper, and are moved by means of actuators in pre-impact situations. A numerical multibody model has been developed with MADYMO code to simulate a 30 km/h truck-pedestrian impact. This model has been used to set-up a full factorial plan with three variables in order to reduce the possible biological damage to the pedestrian. The damage risk is evaluated by means of the Head Injury Criterion (HIC). The optimal solution with respect to the three variables has been determined by means of a regression model. Keywords: passive safety, optimisation, adaptive surfaces, pedestrian impact, heavy vehicles. 1 Introduction Pedestrian impact study is currently a relevant topic in vehicle safety design [1,2]. The goal of approval rules such as the 2003/102/CE directive that is compulsory for all new vehicles starting from 2010, and rating rules such as EuroNCAP tests [3] is to improve the passive safety performance of the vehicles, with particular attention to the VRUs (Vulnerable Road Users) such as pedestrians. Meeting these safety requirements means reducing the aggressivity of the external vehicle structure against pedestrians in order to limit as much as

Keywords

passive safety, optimisation, adaptive surfaces, pedestrian impact, heavy vehicles.