Finite Element Modelling of Car Hood Panel for Pedestrian Protection during Impact

Pedestrian protection during accidents is one of the important criteria in the design of new “pedestrian friendly cars†that is in compliance to the new regulations requirements for pedestrian and road users’ safety. In this study, the collision between headform impactors and vehicle hoods is simulated using FE models developed according to the European Enhanced Vehicle-Safety Committee (EEVC/WG17) regulations. The impact was simulated in LS-Dyna to study the hood performance in terms of pedestrian safety by evaluating the Head Injury Criteria (HIC). The performance of the hood was investigated by varying the section dimensions of the panel pillar with comparisons to the original dimensions. Results indicate that the section dimensions of the panel pillar is one of the keys to control the performance of hood during collision by reducing the HIC and the head injury risk level of pedestrian during accidents