Design and numerical evaluation of an airbag-jacket for motorcyclists Abstract The Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) vehicles are widely used for commuting, touring, racing or for professional purposes, but they are characterized by a high intrinsic risk that makes the motorcyclists among vulnerable road users. The 2006 mid-term review of the European Road Safety Action Programme (RSAP) stated that ‘the number of motorcyclists killed as a proportion of total road deaths, a figure which was relatively stable at around 9.5% until 1996, has risen in the meantime to 14% in 2003. It also states that the number of motorcyclists killed rose by 5.6% between 2000 and 2003, while the total number of people killed on the roads fell by 12% over the same period’. The need of active and passive safety devices, able to reduce the accidents and the severity of injuries suffered by motorcyclist distinctly arises from these data. A contribution in this direction was recently provided by Brembo SpA that realized an innovative solution for passive safety, represented by an airbag device fitted in the biker’s garments. In this paper, the effectiveness of this device has been verified through various numerical simulations inspired to the standard test procedures stated by UNI EN 13595-2 and -4: 2004 and UNI EN 1621-2:2004 norm for biker protective garment evaluation. With the aim of providing more information about the actual capability of the airbag to reduce the severity of the injuries, a real accident scenario has been also investigated. The knowledge of real injuries suffered by the biker involved made possible a realistic evaluation of the harm reduction induced by the airbag presence. Further, one of the scenarios described by the ISO 13232-2:2005 has been investigated in order to have a more objective e repeatable answer about the behaviour of the airbag. The latter two accident scenario simulations was also used to check the real effectiveness of the airbag wire-based firing system. The presence of the airbag leads to advantages in reducing the severity of the injuries induced by some accidents, increasing impact surface and so re-distributing the force exchange on a wider body portion, provided that the impact occurs in a zone protected by the device. In such cases, the presence of the airbag also leads to an increased impact time, lowering both the peak value of the force and the mean deceleration imposed to the biker. Through some appropriate holes the airbag is also able to dissipate part of impact energy that otherwise would be absorbed by human body. The particular shape and ergonomics of the airbag seems really effective both during collisions with other vehicles and stand-alone sliding, since it follows and defends the biker against secondary impacts. So, the employment of airbag technology could prove itself to be really effective and play a decisive role in reducing injuries suffered by a motorcyclist during an accident.

“Design and numerical evaluation of an airbag-jacket for motorcyclists” / R. Capitani; R. Lavezzi; S. Pellari. - ELETTRONICO. - (2010), pp. 228-235. (Intervento presentato al convegno 4th Expert Symposium on Accident Research (ESAR) tenutosi a Hannover nel 16-18 settembre 2010).

“Design and numerical evaluation of an airbag-jacket for motorcyclists”

CAPITANI, RENZO
;
PELLARI, STEFANO SERGIO
2010

Abstract

Design and numerical evaluation of an airbag-jacket for motorcyclists Abstract The Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) vehicles are widely used for commuting, touring, racing or for professional purposes, but they are characterized by a high intrinsic risk that makes the motorcyclists among vulnerable road users. The 2006 mid-term review of the European Road Safety Action Programme (RSAP) stated that ‘the number of motorcyclists killed as a proportion of total road deaths, a figure which was relatively stable at around 9.5% until 1996, has risen in the meantime to 14% in 2003. It also states that the number of motorcyclists killed rose by 5.6% between 2000 and 2003, while the total number of people killed on the roads fell by 12% over the same period’. The need of active and passive safety devices, able to reduce the accidents and the severity of injuries suffered by motorcyclist distinctly arises from these data. A contribution in this direction was recently provided by Brembo SpA that realized an innovative solution for passive safety, represented by an airbag device fitted in the biker’s garments. In this paper, the effectiveness of this device has been verified through various numerical simulations inspired to the standard test procedures stated by UNI EN 13595-2 and -4: 2004 and UNI EN 1621-2:2004 norm for biker protective garment evaluation. With the aim of providing more information about the actual capability of the airbag to reduce the severity of the injuries, a real accident scenario has been also investigated. The knowledge of real injuries suffered by the biker involved made possible a realistic evaluation of the harm reduction induced by the airbag presence. Further, one of the scenarios described by the ISO 13232-2:2005 has been investigated in order to have a more objective e repeatable answer about the behaviour of the airbag. The latter two accident scenario simulations was also used to check the real effectiveness of the airbag wire-based firing system. The presence of the airbag leads to advantages in reducing the severity of the injuries induced by some accidents, increasing impact surface and so re-distributing the force exchange on a wider body portion, provided that the impact occurs in a zone protected by the device. In such cases, the presence of the airbag also leads to an increased impact time, lowering both the peak value of the force and the mean deceleration imposed to the biker. Through some appropriate holes the airbag is also able to dissipate part of impact energy that otherwise would be absorbed by human body. The particular shape and ergonomics of the airbag seems really effective both during collisions with other vehicles and stand-alone sliding, since it follows and defends the biker against secondary impacts. So, the employment of airbag technology could prove itself to be really effective and play a decisive role in reducing injuries suffered by a motorcyclist during an accident.
2010
Proceeding of the 4th Expert Symposium on Accident Research (ESAR)
4th Expert Symposium on Accident Research (ESAR)
Hannover
16-18 settembre 2010
R. Capitani; R. Lavezzi; S. Pellari
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/406113
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