Safety is an increasingly important aspect of vehicle design. Legislation requires minimum levels of safety through full scale tests. Customers are provided with information regarding the safety performance of vehicles so that they can make an informed buying decision. Vehicle crashes were responsible for 40000 fatalities and 5.2 million non fatally injured patients in the US during 1994. The direct and direct cost of head injuries in the US is estimated at $25 billion per year. Injury criteria that can predict the severity of head injuries are important engineering tools for improving vehicle safety. At present the injury that the human head is subjected to is predicted by the Head Injury Criterion (HIC). This criterion is inadequate as it is not based upon a thorough understanding of the underlying head injury mechanisms. The important blunt or non-contact head injury mechanisms are diffuse axonal injury, bridging vein disruption and surface contact contusions. The severity of these injury mechanisms is hypothesised to be related to the level of motion of the brain with respect to the skull. Finite element modelling is used to analyse these head injury mechanisms. Models are developed which include all the relevant anatomical entities and detail. Accurate material property information and boundary conditions are used in the modelling to ensure that the head injury mechanisms can be accurately simulated. Tissue failure criteria are developed to link the various field parameters monitored during the simulations with injury severity. The models are then comprehensively validated with information obtained from pathological observations, cadaver experiments, accident reconstructions and volunteer data. These models are then used to determine the biomechanics of head injury and to develop improved head injury tolerance curves. The simulations demonstrate that head injury severity is dependent upon the magnitude, pulse duration and direction of the applied translational and rotational acceleration pulses.

Plusieurs études ont montré que dans les accidents réels, la vitesse d’impact de la tête n’est que rarement normale à la surface et présente une composante tangentielle non négligeable. Aucune norme, à l’heure actuelle ne propose de choc oblique avec enregistrement de l’accélération en translation et en rotation de la fausse tête. Un aspect essentiel de cette recherche a été d’aborder les descriptions d’accidents réels impliquant un motocycliste et un véhicule afin d’évaluer les conditions aux limites de la tête juste avant impact, en termes de vecteur vitesse et de localisation d’impact. Cette étude a permis d’établir le vecteur vitesse possible et de l’angle d’impact de la tête du motocycliste en situation. Une méthode de test pour évaluer le casque a été proposée. Les tests d'impact obliques, sont effectués avec une vitesse d’impact de 8.5 m/s sur une enclume inclinée de 45° permettant la rotation autour de l’axe Y X et Z. Les accélérations 6-D sont implémentés dans le modèle SUFEHM afin d’extraire la déformation axonal maximale et le risque lésionnel. Cette fusion de la méthode expérimentale et numérique donne un avantage par rapport aux normes conventionnelles, tant en termes de conditions d’impact qu’en termes de critère de blessure de la tête. / It is well know that in case of accident the head does not only impact perpendicularly to the impacted structure but presents an oblique impact condition. However none of the today helmet standards do integrate oblique impacts with the recording of the dummy head rotational acceleration. An essential aspect of the present research is to simulate real world accident and to compute the victim’s kinematic in order to extract the head impact conditions. In collaboration with University Florence (Italy) 19 cases were considered and it was shown that the head impact velocity vector presents a significative angle. A novel helmet test method has been proposed. Helmeted headfoml is impacting a 45° inclined anvil at a speed of 8.5 m/s and the 6D acceleration versus time curves are introduced into an existing head FEM in order to compute the axon strains and to derive the brain injury risk.

Falls among the elderly population continue to be a growing concern in the healthcare industry and are marked by staggeringly high social and economic costs. The incidence of falls is known to increase with age, and currently the elderly population is growing at an astounding rate as baby-boomers are now entering this age group. Also, recovery following fall-related injuries decreases with increased age. These confounding factors currently make falls a very important area of research. Of the injuries typically seen in falls among the elderly, head injuries are one of the most debilitating. Death due to head trauma among the elderly is gaining national attention; head trauma is now considered the number one cause of death among elders who fall1. Among other technologies, medical helmets are often employed to protect against such injuries, but patient compliance with these helmets remains an issue. Current helmets use foams and cotton as padding, contributing to clumsy designs. Dilatent and honeycomb materials may be the future of this industry as their low weight and high efficacy per thickness make them ideal materials for thinner, lighter, less cumbersome head protection devices. This study outlines various modes of head injury and then highlights several head protection measures. The newer materials are tested using various methods to determine the most promising candidates for prototype designs. Next, three prototypes are assembled from the newer materials and compared directly based on the protection measures established. Finally, the top-performing prototype is compared against two existing medical helmets in a similar fashion. The results show that the best prototype significantly outperforms one of the existing medical helmets, and shows slight improvement over the other. These results establish the promise of these newer materials in the application of head protection devices.

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Este estudo foca uma análise comparativa de diferentes painéis internos de capôs de veículos, com o objetivo de minimizar as lesões ao pedestre em caso de um atropelamento. As lesões na cabeça do pedestre são medidas através de um modelo em elementos finitos de uma cabeça padrão de acordo com o comitê europeu de melhorias da segurança de veículos. Os valores de desaceleração obtidos nas análises são comparados com valores toleráveis de acordo com o critério HIC (Head Injury Criteria), criado pela NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Baseando-se nos resultados obtidos demonstra-se a influência dos tipos de estruturas internas de capô e recomenda-se a melhor estrutura para aplicações na indústria automobilística. / This study focus on comparative analysis of different vehicle hood inner panels, with the objective to minimize the injuries to the pedestrian in case of a running over accident. The method to measure the injuries in the head of the pedestrian will be made through a finite element model of a standard head in accordance with the European committee of improvements of the security of vehicles. The values of decelerations obtained in the analysis are compared with human tolerance levels according to HIC criteria (Head Injury Criteria), created by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Based on the finite element analysis results, this study demonstrate the influence of different hood inner panels and recommends the best structure to be applied by automobile industry.

La sécurité du piéton est un problème de santé publique, qui doit être traité tant par les acteurs de la recherche que par l'industrie automobile pour apporter des solutions technologiques innovantes. Dans les accidents impliquant des piétons, le premier contact est généralement localisé sur les membres inférieurs exhibant de fréquentes et nombreuses lésions pouvant être très sévères. Compte tenu des caractéristiques biomécaniques du membre inférieur, comment améliorer les critères de blessures existants pour contribuer au développement d'une voiture moins agressive pour les piétons ? La présente étude vise donc à promouvoir des améliorations significatives de critères de blessure des membres inférieurs pour la sécurité des piétons combinant des essais expérimentaux et des simulations numériques. Un modèle par éléments finis des membres inférieurs (modèle LLMS) a été utilisé et amélioré pour étudier les réponses mécaniques des membres inférieurs dans des conditions de chargement realists. Une attention particulière a été accordée sur la capacité du modèle à prédire séparément les blessures des os longs et celles de l'articulation du genou pour développer deux critères de blessures distincts. Pour le tibia, la nature de sa structure et les conditions de chargement qui lui sont appliquées nous ont conduit à proposer une courbe quadratique de moment en flexion qui tient compte de différents points d'impact. Pour le genou, le critère de blessure a été établi à partir d'une fonction combinant cisaillement latéral et flexion latérale. Ce critère permet de hiérarchiser la nature et la sévérité des lésions en fonction du mécanisme de blessure prépondérant. / Pedestrian safety is a worldwide concern, which needs to be investigated by both vehicle manufacturers and researchers to approach innovative solutions. In car-Pedestrian accidents, lower limbs have been demonstrated to be the most frequently injured body region of the pedestrian. Given the biomechanical features of lower limbs, how the existing injury criteria could be improved to aid the development of a pedestrian friendly car? The current study aims to promote significant improvements in the injury criteria of lower limbs for pedestrian safety combining experimental tests and numerical simulations. A finite element lower limb model (LLMS model) was used and improved to investigate the mechanical responses of lower limbs in the loading conditions reflecting the car-Pedestrian impact. A particular attention was paid on the model ability of predicting separately the injuries of long bones and knee joints to develop the corresponding injury criteria. With regard to the tibia structure and its loading condition in pedestrian accidents, we proposed a quadratic curve of bending moments to tibia locations as its injury tolerance. Given dominant injury mechanisms of the ligaments, the knee injury criterion was established as a function of combined joint kinematics including lateral bending and lateral shearing. Moreover, these criteria are relevant with the previous and current experimental test results. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed criteria was evaluated by a parametric study of the realistic car-Pedestrian impact conditions.

Este estudo foca uma análise comparativa de diferentes painéis internos de capôs de veículos, com o objetivo de minimizar as lesões ao pedestre em caso de um atropelamento. As lesões na cabeça do pedestre são medidas através de um modelo em elementos finitos de uma cabeça padrão de acordo com o comitê europeu de melhorias da segurança de veículos. Os valores de desaceleração obtidos nas análises são comparados com valores toleráveis de acordo com o critério HIC (Head Injury Criteria), criado pela NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Baseando-se nos resultados obtidos demonstra-se a influência dos tipos de estruturas internas de capô e recomenda-se a melhor estrutura para aplicações na indústria automobilística. / This study focus on comparative analysis of different vehicle hood inner panels, with the objective to minimize the injuries to the pedestrian in case of a running over accident. The method to measure the injuries in the head of the pedestrian will be made through a finite element model of a standard head in accordance with the European committee of improvements of the security of vehicles. The values of decelerations obtained in the analysis are compared with human tolerance levels according to HIC criteria (Head Injury Criteria), created by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Based on the finite element analysis results, this study demonstrate the influence of different hood inner panels and recommends the best structure to be applied by automobile industry.

Les constructeurs automobiles sont tenus de respecter des minima sécuritaires vérifiés lors de crash-tests normalisés, d'où un nombre de scénarios de tests limité ne tenant pas compte des particularités individuelles. Ce mémoire propose d'évaluer le comportement humain réel en phase de pré-crash sur simulateur de conduite. L'expérimentation, intégrant un scénario d'accident difficilement évitable, a permis d'étudier le comportement de 76 conducteurs dont 40 sur simulateur dynamique. Pour ce groupe, 43 voies de mesures centrées sur le conducteur ont été intégrées au protocole. Parmi les résultats obtenus, on retiendra la possible détection précoce de l'accident, pour la moitié des conducteurs, sur la base de leur interaction avec le véhicule. Les manœuvres d’évitement amènent 25% des sujets à positionner l'avant-bras devant le volant au moment de l’impact. Cette situation peut compromettre l'efficacité des airbags, ce qui est vérifié sur banc statique, par le déploiement d'airbags face à un mannequin de type Hybrid III-50%. La projection du bras entraine un impact de 120g à la tête. De plus, l'intégration de membres supérieurs issus de SHPM montre que la situation provoque des fractures de l'avant-bras. Un modèle numérique a été conçu pour estimer les effets de la position atypique lors d'un crash frontal à 50km/h. L'accélération de la tête atteint 270g, synonyme de risques lésionnels élevés. Enfin, une modification technologique des airbags est proposée, basée sur l'hypothèse que la détection à distance peut permettre un déclenchement anticipé et plus lent des airbags. Testée expérimentalement et numériquement, cette évolution permet de respecter les critères lésionnels. / Automakers are lawfully required to achieve a minimum level of security which is checked during standardized crash tests. This results in a limited number of scenarios, which do not take individual specificities into account. This dissertation evaluates real human behaviour during the pre-crash phase, by means of a driving simulator. The experiment, integrating an unavoidable accident, studied the behaviour of 76 drivers, of which 40 drivers on a dynamic simulator. Concerning this group, 43 acquisition channels dedicated to drivers were added. From the results, one can retain that the crash can be predicted for half of the drivers through the observation of their behaviour and their interaction with the car. Due to swerving manoeuvres, 25% of the drivers have their forearm just in front of the steering wheel at the time of crash. This situation may compromise the efficiency of the airbags, that is verified experimentally on a static bench, by the deployment of airbags in front of a Hybrid III-50% dummy. The throwing of the arm causes an impact of 120 g to the head. In a second stage, the integration of left upper limbs from PMHS reveals that the situation is likely to generate fractures in the forearm. A numerical model has been designed to estimate the consequences of the atypical position during a frontal crash at 50km/h. The head acceleration reaches 270 g, synonymous with high lesion risks. Finally, a technological modification of the airbags is proposed to reduce this risk. The assumption is made that the use of remote sensors technologies can allow an early detection of the crash and therefore slower triggering of airbags. Tested experimentally and then numerically, this technical evolution reduces the violence of the impact to respect the injury criteria.

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