This study validates the use of the pedestrian multibody model in the simulation software PC-Crash. If reasonable inputs are used, the pedestrian model will yield accurate simulations of pedestrian collisions, particularly in terms of accurately simulating the contact points between the pedestrian and the vehicle and in predicting the throw distance of the pedestrian. This study extends prior studies of the PC-Crash pedestrian multibody model by simulating additional staged collisions, by comparing the results of the model to widely utilized throw distance equations, by providing guidance on inputs for the pedestrian multibody, and by providing documentation of the characteristics of the multibody pedestrian. In addition, two new staged pedestrian collisions are discussed and simulated.
This study demonstrates the following: (1) The center of gravity height of the PC-Crash pedestrian model is comparable to the center of gravity height reported for pedestrians in anthropometric data. (2) The pedestrian-to-ground friction coefficient should be set using values representative of simple sliding, not values that include the impact with the ground or the airborne trajectory. (3) Based on the simulations presented in this study, a reasonable range for this pedestrian-to-ground friction coefficient for dry roadways is 0.5 to 0.65. For wet roadways, a reasonable range is 0.3 to 0.4 (4) For forward projection and wrap trajectories, the default coefficient of restitution for the multibody of 0.316 is reasonable for vehicle impact speeds below 40 km/h. (5) For speeds above 40 km/h with these trajectory types, a restitution coefficient in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 yields more accurate throw distances. (6) For fender vaults, the pedestrian-to-vehicle coefficient of friction and the coefficient of restitution are influential in the lateral throw distance, and these parameters can be treated as optimizing parameters for simulations of this trajectory type.