Optimal Specifications for the Advanced Pedestrian Legform Impactor

Area of Science:

• Automotive Safety Engineering
• Biomechanics
• Virtual Prototyping

Background:

• The Advanced Pedestrian Legform Impactor (aPLI) is a new tool for assessing pedestrian lower limb injuries.
• It improves upon the FlexPLI with enhanced injury predictability.
• The addition of a Simplified Upper Body Part (SUBP) allows testing against vehicles with high bumpers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To virtually optimize the technical specifications of the aPLI and its SUBP.
• To ensure the aPLI meets a maximum total mass limit of 25 kg for laboratory handling.
• To enhance the accuracy and applicability of the aPLI in crash safety evaluations.

Main Methods:

• Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed for optimization.
• Virtual optimization considered interactions between various parameters.
• A 25 kg total mass constraint was applied, adhering to international standards.

Main Results:

• Optimized technical specifications for both the aPLI's lower limb and SUBP were determined.
• Variable interactions were found to be critical for accurate optimization.
• The virtual optimization process successfully balanced performance and physical constraints.

Conclusions:

• The study provides optimized specifications for constructing physical aPLIs.
• These optimized aPLIs are expected to improve car-to-pedestrian crash safety testing globally.
• The virtual optimization approach ensures reliable and effective impactor design.