Study on the Relationship between Intrusion Velocity and Occupant Injury of Side Impact

The injury outcomes in side impact are correlated to the door trim design, vehicle motion, as well as the side restraint system. A well controlled side intrusion can vastly reduce the injury index of the thorax, abdomen during the side impact. For the safety issue, it is essential to know the sensitivity of side structure's intrusion velocity upon occupant injury in side impact. Objective: This paper is focusing on the influences of different side intrusion velocities upon occupant injuries, based on a validated MADYMO side impact simulation model. Method and Material: With the Prescribed Structure Motion method, the side impact model was built up and correlated with the physical impact test to ensure the accuracy of the model. Through the method of Prescribed Structure Motion Scaling, the different door's intrusion velocities corresponding to the chest region were realized. Upon the MADYMO simulations, the side structure intrusion velocity effects on occupant injuries were evaluated. Results: The study indicates that the door's intrusion velocity corresponding to the chest region has significant effects on the rib deformation and T12-Mx index. By increasing the intrusion velocity from 5.87m/s to 7.5m/s, the maximum of low rib deformation could be increased by 58.6% and T12-Mx index could be increased by 78.4%.