The number of vehicles on the roads is constantly increasing. Considering the circulating park in Italy, recent data show that Powered Two-Wheelers (PTWs) have increased by about 20% just in ten years (2006-2016). PTW crashes are not decreasing at the desired pace and thus rider safety is still a concern. Previous studies showed that lower limbs are the region of the body with the highest probability of injury in a road crash. The aim of this paper is to perform a preliminary assessment of the effectiveness for a new concept of leg protector. The device is conceived for after-market installation on scooters and it is designed to mitigate leg injuries reported by the riders in side impacts at low speeds. To assess the effectiveness of the protector, five crash tests configurations of the scooter equipped with the protector were reproduced in a virtual environment. A Hybrid III model was selected as the best dummy compromise for the analysis to calculate the safety performance. Being the dummy not validated for side impacts, the evaluation was performed through a comparative analysis with and without the protector. Two different series of simulations were performed: moving-stationary (with stationary motorcycle) and moving-moving. The results of the first set of analyses (moving-stationary) show that the protector has provided a protection to the lower limbs in each configuration. In addition, the injuries to the upper body (head and chest) are equivalent or show a slight decrease. Analyzing the kinematic of the impact, the protector has a restraining effect on the rider. In the moving-moving analyses, the protector does not provide a significant improvement in leg protection, and the injury parameters worsen compared to the reference configuration. The study contributes to solve the problem of motorcyclists lower limbs protection in road crashes, studied on several occasions in the past without a concrete solution.
Design of an after-market lower limb protector for scooters: Preliminary estimation of effectiveness / Bracali A.; Baldanzini N.; Barbani D.; Pierini M.; Maffe F.. - In: PROCEDIA STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY. - ISSN 2452-3216. - ELETTRONICO. - 24:(2019), pp. 448-454. (Intervento presentato al convegno 48th International Conference on Stress Analysis, AIAS 2019 tenutosi a ita nel 2019) [10.1016/j.prostr.2020.02.041].
Design of an after-market lower limb protector for scooters: Preliminary estimation of effectiveness
Bracali A.
;Baldanzini N.;Barbani D.;Pierini M.;
2019
Abstract
The number of vehicles on the roads is constantly increasing. Considering the circulating park in Italy, recent data show that Powered Two-Wheelers (PTWs) have increased by about 20% just in ten years (2006-2016). PTW crashes are not decreasing at the desired pace and thus rider safety is still a concern. Previous studies showed that lower limbs are the region of the body with the highest probability of injury in a road crash. The aim of this paper is to perform a preliminary assessment of the effectiveness for a new concept of leg protector. The device is conceived for after-market installation on scooters and it is designed to mitigate leg injuries reported by the riders in side impacts at low speeds. To assess the effectiveness of the protector, five crash tests configurations of the scooter equipped with the protector were reproduced in a virtual environment. A Hybrid III model was selected as the best dummy compromise for the analysis to calculate the safety performance. Being the dummy not validated for side impacts, the evaluation was performed through a comparative analysis with and without the protector. Two different series of simulations were performed: moving-stationary (with stationary motorcycle) and moving-moving. The results of the first set of analyses (moving-stationary) show that the protector has provided a protection to the lower limbs in each configuration. In addition, the injuries to the upper body (head and chest) are equivalent or show a slight decrease. Analyzing the kinematic of the impact, the protector has a restraining effect on the rider. In the moving-moving analyses, the protector does not provide a significant improvement in leg protection, and the injury parameters worsen compared to the reference configuration. The study contributes to solve the problem of motorcyclists lower limbs protection in road crashes, studied on several occasions in the past without a concrete solution.
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