Title: A response-surface-based tool for vehicle front-end design for pedestrian impact protection using human body model

Authors: Bingbing Nie; Yong Xia; Qing Zhou; Jun Huang; Bing Deng; Mark Neal

Addresses: State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ' General Motors Corporation, Research & Development Center, 30500 Mound Road, Warren, Michigan 48090, USA ' General Motors Corporation, Research & Development Center, 30500 Mound Road, Warren, Michigan 48090, USA

Abstract: This study introduces a response-surface-based design tool of vehicle front-end for pedestrian lower limb impact protection performance. Using a simplified parametric vehicle front-end model, a pedestrian human body model (HBM) and impact simulations, a design of experiment (DOE) study is conducted, and based on the results, response surfaces for lower limb injury predictions have been generated. The Latin Hypercube sampling scheme is used to create the models of the front structure of a variety of vehicles, and reasonable geometry and stiffness variables are included. The response surfaces have been implemented in a graphical user interface (GUI) to provide simple and intuitive feedback on human lower limb injury predictions as the vehicle front-end design changes.

Keywords: lower limb injuries; pedestrian injuries; parametric modelling; vehicle modelling; HBM; human body model; vehicle front-end design; DOE; design of experiments; response surface methodology; RSM; global sensitivity analysis; GUI; graphical user interface; impact simulation; vehicle design; vehicle safety.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2014.066069

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2014 Vol.66 No.4, pp.347 - 362

Accepted: 01 Dec 2013
Published online: 02 Dec 2014 *

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