Throw Model for Frontal Pedestrian Collisions

A planar model for the mechanics of a vehicle-pedestrian collision is presented, analyzed and compared to experimental data. It takes into account the significant physical parameters of wrap and forward projection collisions and is suitable for solution using mathematics software or spreadsheets. Parameters related to the pedestrian and taken into account include horizontal distance traveled between primary and secondary impacts with the vehicle, launch angle, center-of-gravity height at launch, the relative forward speed of the pedestrian to the car at launch, distance from launch to a ground impact, distance from ground impact to rest and pedestrian-ground drag factor. Vehicle and roadway parameters include postimpact, constant-velocity vehicle travel distance, continued vehicle travel distance to rest with uniform deceleration and relative distance between rest positions of vehicle and pedestrian.

The model is presented in two forms. The first relates the throw distance, s_p, to the initial vehicle speed, v_c0, that is, s_p = f(v_c0). The second, intended for reconstruction, relates the vehicle speed, v_c0, to the pedestrian throw distance, s_p, that is, v_c0 = f(s_p). The first form is used extensively in the paper as means of comparison of the model to over 14 selected sets of experimental data taken from the current literature. The second form is fit to experimental data, providing values of two model parameters, A and B.