Proposal of a new motorcycle helmet test method for tangential impact

Abstract

Based on an existing in‐depth accident database available at Florence University, a total of 19 motorcycle accidents were selected for reconstruction using a multibody simulation approach. These computations give access to the head impact conditions in terms of initial head velocity vector. The real‐world accident simulation permitted the computation of the victim’s kinematics and demonstrated that the impact velocity vector presents an important tangential component. Typically, an impact angle of 40-50° is observed. Therefore, it is suggested to consider tangential helmet impacts in three different planes with an 8.5 m/s impact speed against an anvil inclined at45°. Further, it has been demonstrated that the 6D HIII headform response under tangential impact is reliable and can be used in helmet testing. Finally, by driving a human head FE model with the 6D acceleration versus time history, it appears that the brain injury risk can be computed. The proposed test method suggests four tangential impacts leading to rotation among the three reference axes. For this combined linear and rotational head loading, the helmet can be evaluated against brain tissue level injury.