Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of injury thresholds for predicting severe head injuries in vulnerable road users resulting from ground impact via detailed accident reconstructions

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of various head injury criteria and associated risk functions in prediction of vulnerable road users (VRUs) severe head injuries caused by ground impact during vehicle collisions. Ten VRU accidents with video information were reconstructed by using Chalmers Pedestrian Model, vehicle multi-body system models and the THUMS (Ver. 4.0.2) finite element model. The head kinematics were used to calculate injury risks for seven head kinematics-based criteria: head angular velocity and acceleration, linear acceleration, head injury criterion (HIC), head impact power (HIP) and two versions of brain injury criterion (i.e., BRIC and BrIC). In addition, the intracranial responses were used to estimate seven tissue injury criteria, Von Mises stress, shear stress, coup pressure (C.P.) and countercoup pressure (CC.P.), maximum principal strain (MPS), cumulative strain damage measure (CSDM), and dilatation damage measure (DDM). A review of the medical reports for all cases indicated that each individual suffered severe head injuries and died. The injury risks predicted through simulations were compared to the head injuries recorded in the medical or forensic reports. The results indicated that 75–100% of the reconstructed ground impact accidents injuries were correctly predicted by angular acceleration, linear acceleration, HIC, C.P., MPS and CSDM0.15. Shear stress, CC.P. and CSDM0.25 correctly predicted 50–75% of the reconstructed accidents injuries. For angular velocity, HIP, BRIC and BrIC, the injuries were correctly predicted for less than 50% of the reconstructed accidents. The Von Mises stress and DDM did not correctly predict any reconstructed accidents injuries. The results could help to understand the effectiveness of the brain injury criteria for future head injury evaluation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams JH, Graham D, Murray LS, Scott G (1982) Diffuse axonal injury due to nonmissile head injury in humans: an analysis of 45 cases. Ann Neurol 12(6):557–563

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson RW, Brown C, Blumbergs P, Scott G, Finney J, Jones N, Mclean A (1999) Mechanisms of axonal injury: an experimental and numerical study of a sheep model of head impact. In: Proceedings of the proceedings, international conference on the biomechanics of impact IRCOBI, Sitges, Spain, pp 107–120

  • Arbogast KB, Meaney DF, Thibault LE (1995) Biomechanical characterization of the constitutive relationship for the brainstem. SAE Technical Paper

  • Ashton SJ, Mackay GM (1983) Benefits from changes in vehicle exterior design—field accident and experimental work in Europe. In: SAE international

  • Badea-Romero A, Lenard J (2013) Source of head injury for pedestrians and pedal cyclists: striking vehicle or road? Accid Anal Prev 50:1140–1150

    Google Scholar 

  • Bain AC, Meaney DF (2000) Tissue-level thresholds for axonal damage in an experimental model of central nervous system white matter injury. J Biomech Eng 122(6):615–622

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandak FA, Eppinger RH (1994) A three-dimensional finite element analysis of the human brain under combined rotational and translational accelerations. SAE transactions, 1708-1726

  • Bourdet N, Deck C, Serre T, Perrin C, Llari M, Willinger R (2014) In-depth real-world bicycle accident reconstructions. Int J Crashworthiness 19(3):222–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng H, Obergefell L, Rizer A (2002) The development of the gebod program. In: Proceedings of the biomedical engineering conference

  • Chinn B, Canaple B, Derler S, Doyle D, Otte D, Schuller E, Willinger R (2001) Cost 327 motorcycle safety helmets. European Commission, Directorate General for Energy and Transport

  • Committee EEV-S (1998) Improved test methods to evaluate pedestrian protection afforded by passenger cars. EEVC Working Group 17 Report

  • Darvish K, Crandall J (2001) Nonlinear viscoelastic effects in oscillatory shear deformation of brain tissue. Med Eng Phys 23(9):633–645

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidsson J, Angeria M, Risling M (2009) Injury threshold for sagittal plane rotational induced diffuse axonal injuries. In: Proceedings of the proceedings of the international research conference on the biomechanics of impact (IRCOBI), pp 43–56

  • Denny-Brown D, Russell WR (1941) Experimental cerebral concussion. Brain 64(2–3):93–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Feng Y, Abney TM, Okamoto RJ, Pless RB, Genin GM, Bayly PV (2010) Relative brain displacement and deformation during constrained mild frontal head impact. J R Soc Interface 7(53):1677–1688

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabler LF, Crandall JR, Panzer MB (2016) Assessment of kinematic brain injury metrics for predicting strain responses in diverse automotive impact conditions. J Ann Biomed Eng 44(12):3705–3718

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadd CW (1966) Use of a weighted-impulse criterion for estimating injury hazard. SAE Technical Paper

  • Gennarelli TA (1983) Head injury in man and experimental animals: clinical aspects. Acta Neurochir 32(32):1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Gennarelli TA, Thibault LE (1982) Biomechanics of acute subdural hematoma. J Trauma 22(8):680

    Google Scholar 

  • Gennarelli TA, Abel JM, Adams H, Graham DJST (1979) Differential tolerance of frontal and temporal lobes to contusion induced by angular acceleration. SAE Trans 88:3503–3514

    Google Scholar 

  • Gennarelli TA, Thibault LE, Adams JH, Graham DI, Thompson CJ, Marcincin RP (1982) Diffuse axonal injury and traumatic coma in the primate. Ann Neurol 12(6):564–574

    Google Scholar 

  • Giordano C, Kleiven S (2014) Evaluation of axonal strain as a predictor for mild traumatic brain injuries using finite element modeling. Stapp Car Crash J 58(58):29

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasson E, Maistre V, Laurent C (2001) Car front end module structure development regarding pedestrian protection and other mechanical constraints. In: SAE international

  • Han X-Y, Jin X-L, Zhang X-Y, Miao X (2012) Vehicle movement information reconstruction based on video images and dlt theory. Automot Eng 34:1145–1149

    Google Scholar 

  • Han Y, Li Q, Qian Y, Zhou D, Svensson M (2018) Comparison of the landing kinematics of pedestrians and cyclists during ground impact determined from vehicle collision video records. Int J Veh Saf 10(3–4):212–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Han Y, He W, Shi L, Wu H, Pan D, Huang H (2019a) Helmet protective performance via reconstruction of electric two-wheeler rider’s head-to-ground impact accidents. Int J Crashworthiness 1–11 (in press)

  • Han Y, Li Q, Wang F, Wang B, Mizuno K, Zhou Q (2019b) Analysis of pedestrian kinematics and ground impact in traffic accidents using video records. Int J Crashworthiness 24(2):211–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy WN, Foster CD, Mason MJ, Yang KH, King AI, Tashman S (2001) Investigation of head injury mechanisms using neutral density technology and high-speed biplanar X-ray. SAE Technical Paper, pp 337–368

  • Hardy WN, Mason MJ, Foster CD, Shah CS, Kopacz JM, Yang KH, King AI, Bishop J, Bey M, Anderst W (2007) A study of the response of the human cadaver head to impact. Stapp Car Crash J 51:17

    Google Scholar 

  • Hertz E (1993) A note on the head injury criterion (hic) as a predictor of the risk of skull fracture. In: Proceedings of the proceedings: association for the advancement of automotive medicine annual conference, pp 303–312

  • Huang Y, Zhou Q, Koelper C, Li Q, Nie B (2020) Are riders of electric two-wheelers safer than bicyclists in collisions with motor vehicles? Accid Anal Prev 134:105336

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwamoto M, Kisanuki Y, Watanabe I, Furusu K, Miki K, Hasegawa J (2002) Development of a finite element model of the total human model for safety (thums) and application to injury reconstruction. In: Proceedings of the 2002 international research council on biomechanics of injury, Munich, Germany, pp 31–42

  • Kang H-S, Willinger R, Diaw BM, Chinn B (1997) Validation of a 3D anatomic human head model and replication of head impact in motorcycle accident by finite element modeling. In: SAE transactions, pp 3849–3858

  • Kendall R, Meissner M, Crandall J (2006) The causes of head injury in vehicle-pedestrian impacts: comparing the relative danger of vehicle and road surface. In: SAE Technical Paper 1

  • Kimpara H, Iwamoto M (2012) Mild traumatic brain injury predictors based on angular accelerations during impacts. Ann Biomed Eng 40(1):114–126

    Google Scholar 

  • King AI, Yang KH, Zhang L, Hardy W, Viano DC (2003) Is head injury caused by linear or angular acceleration. In: Proceedings of the IRCOBI conference

  • Kleiven S (2007) Predictors for traumatic brain injuries evaluated through accident reconstructions. SAE Technical Paper

  • Ksimms C, Pwood D (2006) Effects of pre-impact pedestrian position and motion on kinematics and injuries from vehicle and ground contact. Int J Crashworthiness 11(4):345–355

    Google Scholar 

  • Li G, Yang J, Simms C (2017) Safer passenger car front shapes for pedestrians: a computational approach to reduce overall pedestrian injury risk in realistic impact scenarios. Accid Anal Prev 100:97–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Lissner H, Lebow M, Evans F (1960) Experimental studies on the relation between acceleration and intracranial pressure changes in man. Surgery, gynecology & obstetrics 111:329

    Google Scholar 

  • Maki T, Kajzer J (2000) The behavior of bicyclists in frontal and rear crash accidents with cars. JSAE Rev 22(3):357–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallory AE (2014) Measurement of meningeal motion using b-mode ultrasound as a step toward understanding the mechanism of subdural hematoma. The Ohio State University, Columbus

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallory A, Herriott R, Rhule H (2011) Subdural hematoma and aging: crash characteristics and associated injuries. In: Proceedings of the 22nd international technical conference on the enhanced safety of vehicles (ESV). Washington, DC: Paper

  • Margulies SS, Thibault LE (1992) A proposed tolerance criterion for diffuse axonal injury in man. J Biomech 25(8):917–923

    Google Scholar 

  • Marjoux D, Baumgartner D, Deck C, Willinger R (2008) Head injury prediction capability of the hic, hip, simon and ulp criteria. Accid Anal Prev 40(3):1135–1148

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez L, Guerra LJ, Ferichola G, Garcia A, Yang J (2007) Stiffness corridors of the european fleet for pedestrian simulations. In: Proceedings of the 20th international technical conference on the enhanced safety of vehicles (ESV) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  • Mclundie W (2007) Investigation of two-wheeled road traffic accidents using explicit FE techniques, Ph.D thesis, Cranfield university

  • Medige J (1997) Shear properties of human brain tissue. J Biomech Eng 119:423

    Google Scholar 

  • Mizuno K, Kajzer J (2000) Head injuries in vehicle-pedestrian impact. SAE International

  • Nahum AM, Smith R, Ward CC (1977) Intracranial pressure dynamics during head impact. SAE Technical Paper, pp 337–366

  • Newman JA (1986) A generalized acceleration model for brain injury threshold (gambit). In: Proceedings of the proceedings of international IRCOBI conference

  • Newman JA, Shewchenko N (2000) A proposed new biomechanical head injury assessment function-the maximum power index. SAE Technical Paper

  • NHTSA (1972) Occupant crash protection–head injury criterion. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, DC: (S6. 2 of FMVSS 571.208)

  • NHTSA (1995) Final economic assessment, FMVSS no. 201, upper interior head protection. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Regulatory Analysis, Plans and Policy. Washington DC

  • Nie B, Zhou Q (2016) Can new passenger cars reduce pedestrian lower extremity injury? A review of geometrical changes of front-end design before and after regulatory efforts. Traffic Injury Prev 17(7):712–719

    Google Scholar 

  • Normalisation CED (2011) Head and neck impact, burn and noise injury criteria—a guide for cen helmet standards committees. CEN/TR 16148. Comite Europeen de Normalisation

  • Nusholtz GS, Lux P, Kaiker P, Janicki MA (1984) Head impact response—skull deformation and angular accelerations. SAE Technical Paper

  • Nusholtz GS, Wylie B, Glascoe LG (1995) Cavitation/boundary effects in a simple head impact model. Aviat Space Environ Med 66(7):661–667

    Google Scholar 

  • Ommaya AK (1985) Biomechanics of head injuries: experimental aspects. In: Nahum, Melvin (eds) Biomechanics of trauma. Appleton-Century-Crofts, East Norwalk, CT, pp 249–269

  • Otte D, Pohlemann T (2001) Analysis and load assessment of secondary impact to adult pedestrians after car collisions on roads

  • Peng Y, Chen Y, Yang J, Otte D, Willinger RM (2012) A study of pedestrian and bicyclist exposure to head injury in passenger car collisions based on accident data and simulations. Saf Sci 50(9):1749–1759

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen E, Stigson H, Sander U (2011) Literature review of pedestrian fatality risk as a function of car impact speed. Accid Anal Prev 43(1):25–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowson S, Duma SM, Beckwith JG, Chu JJ, Greenwald RM, Crisco JJ, Brolinson PG, Duhaime A-C, Mcallister TW, Maerlender AC (2012) Rotational head kinematics in football impacts: an injury risk function for concussion. Ann Biomed Eng 40(1):1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahoo D, Deck C, Willinger R (2016) Brain injury tolerance limit based on computation of axonal strain. Accid Anal Prev 92:53–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi L, Han Y, Huang H, Li Q, Wang B, Mizuno K (2018) Analysis of pedestrian-to-ground impact injury risk in vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions based on rotation angles. J Saf Res 64:37

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi L, Han Y, Huang H, He W, Wang F, Wang B (2019) Effects of vehicle front-end safety countermeasures on pedestrian head injury risk during ground impact. Proc Inst Mech Eng Part D J Automob Eng 233(14)3588–3599

    Google Scholar 

  • Shigeta K, Kitagawa Y, Yasuki T (2009) Development of next generation human FE model capable of organ injury prediction. In: Proceedings of the 21st annual enhanced safety of vehicles, pp 15–18

  • Shin MK, Yi SI, Kwon OT, Park GJ (2008) Structural optimization of the automobile frontal structure for pedestrian protection and the low-speed impact test. Proc Inst Mech Eng Part D J Automob Eng 222(12):2373–2387

    Google Scholar 

  • Shreiber DI, Bain AC, Meaney DF (1997) In vivo thresholds for mechanical injury to the blood-brain barrier. SAE transactions, pp 3792–3806

  • Stalnaker R, Alem N, Benson J (1978) Validation studies for head impact injury model US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  • Takhounts EG, Eppinger RH, Campbell JQ, Tannous RE, Power ED, Shook LS (2003) On the development of the simon finite element head model. SAE Technical Paper

  • Takhounts EG, Ridella SA, Hasija V, Tannous RE, Campbell JQ, Malone D, Danelson K, Stitzel J, Rowson S, Duma S (2008) Investigation of traumatic brain injuries using the next generation of simulated injury monitor (SIMon) Finite element head model. SAE Technical Paper

  • Takhounts EG, Hasija V, Ridella SA, Rowson S, Duma SM (2011) Kinematic rotational brain injury criterion (BRIC). In: Proceedings of the proceedings of the 22nd enhanced safety of vehicles conference. Paper, pp 1–10

  • Takhounts EG, Craig MJ, Moorhouse K, Mcfadden J, Hasija V (2013) Development of brain injury criteria (BRIC). SAE Technical Paper

  • Tamura A, Koide T, Yang KH (2014) Effects of ground impact on traumatic brain injury in a fender vault pedestrian crash. Int J Veh Saf 8(1):85–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Thibault LE, Gennarelli TA, Margulies SS, Marcus J, Eppinger R (1990) The strain dependent pathophysiological consequences of inertial loading on central nervous system tissue. In: Proceedings of the international conference on the biomechanics of impacts, Bron

  • Trosseille X, Tarriere C, Lavaste F, Guillon F, Domont A (1992) Development of a fem of the human head according to a specific test protocol. SAE Technical Paper

  • Ueno K, Melvin JW (1995) Finite element model study of head impact based on hybrid III head acceleration: the effects of rotational and translational acceleration. J Biomech Eng 117(3):319–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Versace J (1971) A review of the severity index. SAE Technical Paper

  • Wang F, Geng Z, Agrawal S, Han Y, Miller K, Wittek A (2017) Computation of brain deformations due to violent impact: Quantitative analysis of the importance of the choice of boundary conditions and brain tissue constitutive model. In: Computational biomechanics for medicine. Springer, Cham, pp 159–173

  • Wang F, Han Y, Wang B, Peng Q, Huang X, Miller K, Wittek A (2018) Prediction of brain deformations and risk of traumatic brain injury due to closed-head impact: quantitative analysis of the effects of boundary conditions and brain tissue constitutive model. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 17(4):1165–1185

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang B, Wang F, Otte D, Han Y, Peng Q (2019) Effects of passenger car front profile and human factors on pedestrian lower extremity injury risk using german in-depth accident data. Int J Crashworthiness 24(2):163–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward C, Chan M, Nahum A (1980) Intracranial pressure—a brain injury criterion. J SAE Transactions, pp 3867–3880

  • Watanabe R, Miyazaki H, Kitagawa Y, Yasuki T (2011) Research of collision speed dependency of pedestrian head and chest injuries using human FE model (THUMS version 4). In: Proceedings of the 22nd international technical conference on the enhanced safety of vehicles (ESV), WA, pp 11-0043

  • WHO (2018) Global status report on road safety 2018. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Willinger RM, Baumgartner D (2003) Human head tolerance limits to specific injury mechanisms. Int J Crashworthiness 8(6):605–617

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Willinger R, Halldin P, Bogerd CP, Deck C, Fahlstedt M (2015) Final report of working group 3: Impact engineering. A cost action TU1101/HOPE collaboration

  • Yang JK, Lövsund P, Cavallero C, Bonnoit J (2000) A human-body 3d mathematical model for simulation of car-pedestrian impacts. J Crash Prev Inj Control 2(2):131–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Yao J, Yang J, Otte D (2008) Investigation of head injuries by reconstructions of real-world vehicle-versus-adult-pedestrian accidents. Saf Sci 46(7):1103–1114

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoganandan N, Li J, Zhang J, Pintar FA, Gennarelli TA (2008) Influence of angular acceleration–deceleration pulse shapes on regional brain strains. J Biomech 41(10):2253–2262

    Google Scholar 

  • Young JK (1997) Development and validation of a human-body mathematical model for simulation of car-pedestrian collisions. In: IRCOBI conference, pp 14–18

  • Zhang L, Yang KH, King AI (2004) A proposed injury threshold for mild traumatic brain injury. J Biomech Eng 126(2):226–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Zou T, Shang S, Simms C (2019) Potential benefits of controlled vehicle braking to reduce pedestrian ground contact injuries. Accid Anal Prev 129:94–107

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge support of the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51775466 and 51675454), and Fujian Provincial Science foundation for distinguished young scholars (Grant No. 2019J06022), the High-end expert program, China (Grant No. GDT20173600037); and this work also is supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFE0118400).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

    Liangliang Shi & Hongwu Huang

  2. School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, China

    Yong Han & Hongwu Huang

  3. Fujian Collaborative Innovation Center for R&D of Coach and Special Vehicle, Xiamen, China

    Yong Han & Hongwu Huang

  4. Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Johan Davidsson & Robert Thomson

Authors
  1. Liangliang Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yong Han
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hongwu Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Johan Davidsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Robert Thomson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yong Han.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

See Figs. 7, 8 and Tables 6, 7.

Fig. 7
figure 7

a Frontal impact experiments by Nahum et al. (1977). The comparison between experiment and simulation results: b contact force, c frontal pressure, d parietal pressures, e occipital pressure, f posterior fossa pressure

Full size image
Fig. 8
figure 8figure 8

Comparison of reconstructed kinematics with video screenshots. (In fact, these video screenshots do not really show the video quality. The VRUs body in the screenshots is blurred, but the body can be clearly judged in the video.)

Full size image
Table 6 Summary of head velocities at the time just before the head-to-ground impact
Full size table
Table 7 Summary of simulated injury criteria values during ground impact
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shi, L., Han, Y., Huang, H. et al. Evaluation of injury thresholds for predicting severe head injuries in vulnerable road users resulting from ground impact via detailed accident reconstructions. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 19, 1845–1863 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-020-01312-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-020-01312-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation