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RESEARCH PRODUCT

A New Theoretical Approach on Teenage Cyclist-Vehicle Crash

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Data obtained in teenage cyclist impact against three vehicles (sedan, SUV and Pick Up), tested in previous works, are analyzed to verify the theoretical results by the coupling of momentum conservation principle and energy conservation principle. The speed of vehicle and thorax are compared with theoretical ones, obtaining an excellent agreement. Following the results found in the literature, particular emphasis is done on teenager cyclist thorax and head speeds, indicating that the cyclist speed can be theoretically until 1,41 times the impact speed, while greater values, until 2, are obtained in the simulations. A small slowing of the vehicle is found theoretically and in the simulations, due to kinetic energy transfer. A small component of the vehicle speed exists in the orthogonal plane to the motion, due, for example, to the compression of the rider body on the bonnet. A parameter is determined using all the data in term of thorax speed, in all the impact speeds and in all the relative positions; its value does not appear depending on the vehicle mass. It allows the subsequent determination of the best values of three geometric actual parameters identified in front of the vehicle: bumper height, bonnet height and bonnet inclination angle, by interpolation with a second order curve, by making the conclusion that the frontal part of the vehicle may be designed in order to reduce the injury.