Parameter sensitivity analysis of pedestrian head dynamic response and injuries based on coupling simulations

There are a very limited number of reports studying on the dynamic response and injuries of pedestrian head in the scenarios with head hitting windshield. This study aims to investigate the significant factors that affect the dynamic response and injuries of pedestrian head through finite element–multi-body coupling simulations. Two finite element vehicle models and two multi-body pedestrian human models were used to build the coupling simulations. Orthogonal experimental design and analysis of variance were used for parameter combination and data analysis. This study demonstrated that the dynamic response of pedestrian head and HIC(15) were strongly associated with collision speed and pedestrian orientation. Vehicle type had a significant influence on the dynamic response of pedestrian head and HIC(15), while there was no significant relationship between the dynamic response of pedestrian head and HIC(15) and the size of pedestrian human models. Collision speed, pedestrian orientation, and vehicle type should be prioritized over the other collision parameters in the study of head injury mechanism and reconstruction of vehicle–pedestrian collisions in the scenarios with head hitting windshield.