Kinematic analysis of a motorcycle and rider impact on a concrete barrier under different impact and road conditions

Abstract

In many countries, motorcycle crashes constitutes a significant proportion of all road crash fatalities and injuries and safety measures can be successful only if much more attention is devoted to this issue. Several Roadside guard systems such as concrete barriers, wire rope barriers and steel guard rails are used to protect occupants of four wheels and heavy trucks. Yet motorcycle riders are vulnerable to any crash scenario, resulting in major injuries. Also the climatic conditions have a major impact on motorcyclists. Thousands of motorcyclists are killed or injured in road accidents. The need to provide and improve crash survival programs in collision environment is the subject matter of interest and research. In this research, simulation of full scale crash tests of a motorcycle with rider driven in an upright position and sliding on the road surface impacting on steel barriers and concrete barriers are carried out by DEKRA Accident Research, to analyze real-world crashes. It is most important to evaluate head injury risks as it causes a serious threat to life. The motorcycle model with a rider are developed in MADYMO 6.3 and validated using the real time barrier tests. Under normal road conditions, the motorcycle driven in an upright position is assumed to have a pre-crash velocity of 60km/h impacting at 12° on a concrete barrier. The validation criteria used are: motorcycle kinematics, rider kinematics and the rider injury criteria. The results obtained in this research are found to be in a reasonable correlation with the experimental data. A parametric study is then conducted to investigate the crash for various impact speeds (40 km/h, 60 km/h and 80 km/h) under different impact scenarios (6° impact, 8° impact, 12° impact, 24° impact, 45° impact, 60° impact and 90° impact). An icy road condition is then studied. A study of kinematics and injury parameters for a motorcycle rider is proven to be different under various impact speeds (40 km/h, 60 km/h and 80 km/h) under different impact scenarios (6° impact, 8° impact, 12° impact, 24° impact, 45° impact, 60° impact and 90° impact). Design of Experiments is conducted to study the contribution of the road condition, impact angles, speed and the interaction of these factors. The result from this study helps in understanding the factors affecting the crash and rider injuries. Design of Experiment also provides a valuable knowledge about the contribution of factors chosen (road type, angle of collision and speed) towards accidents.