Analysis on the driver’s upper and lower neck injury in the three stages of the frontal collision

Abstract

According to the driver’s moving posture in the frontal collision, the movement process of the driver could be divided into the three stages. At present, the researchers mainly focused on the neck injuries in the first stage of the driver movement, seldom involve the neck injuries in the second and third stage of the driver movement. The aim of this study is to investigate the neck injuries in the three stages comprehensively to expand the protective scope of the neck. Firstly, the simulation model of the driver restraint system was developed and validated. Secondly, parametric studies were conducted to investigate the influences of the design parameters of the driver restraint system on the occurrence times and the variation trends of the upper and lower neck injuries. Finally, the driver restraint system design parameters were optimized globally using the whole injury criterion of the neck WICN. The results indicate that the driver restraint system should be designed with the moderate vent leakage coefficient, inflator mass-flow rate and fabric permeability coefficient of airbag, and the smaller recliner rotational stiffness of seatback for reducing the neck injuries. After optimization, the peak anterior shear force of lower neck F₃ reduces by 27.2%, the peak extension bending moment of upper and lower neck M_upper, M_lower decline by 22.4% and 22.2% respectively, WICN decreases by 15.2%, and the other neck injury values also show a declining trend. At the moment, both the peak anterior shear force of lower neck F₃ and the peak extension bending moment of lower neck M_lower appear in the second stage, the peak extension bending moment of upper neck M_upper appears in the third stage, the other neck injury values appear in the first stage.