Influence Law of Upward Throw and Lateral Deviation Distances for Struck Pedestrian on Vehicle Body Surface

Based on the coupling of PC-Crash and embedded MADYMO, the impacting vehicle and pedestrian are respectively modeled as a multi-body system. The influence laws and factors of upward throw and lateral deviation distances for the impacted pedestrian involved in a vehicle/pedestrian collision are in depth analyzed with simulating by selecting main factors influencing on contact location for pedestrian's head on the impacting vehicle exterior as independent variables for simulating tests. Moreover, for various influencing factors, the approximate vehicle impact speed thresholds under different collision circumstances are determined from the available simulating data. On the other hand, the mathematical relationships between post-impact pedestrian's upward throw/lateral deviation distances and vehicle impact speed under different collision scenarios are derived from regression analyses of the simulating data. The comparisons of simulation results with real world and staged vehicle/pedestrian impacts have indicated a good harmony and consistency between them; moreover, the derived regression equations may be used to access the lower vehicle impact speed and pre-impact pedestrian speed. The results in this paper will be of great practicability in reconstruction analysis and technical appraisal of vehicle/pedestrian collisions in China.