Windscreen material characterization based on experimental data

Abstract

A good knowledge of the contact properties between the windscreen and the head during an impact is necessary to obtain a reliable pedestrian–vehicle crash simulation. Unlike other parts of the vehicle, the windscreen may crack as well as bend during an impact. The purpose of this study is to analyse the behaviour of a head impact on a windscreen and to design a multibody contact model of windscreen impact which accounts for rate-dependent damping effects. Subsystem impact tests were used to define contact-impact characteristics that correctly account for damping. Two phases can be distinguished in these characteristics. The first part corresponds to the bending and the fracture of the windscreen whereas the second part corresponds to the bending of the windscreen once it is broken. The characteristics were then implemented in a multibody model and the subsystem impact tests were simulated in order to validate it by comparison with experimental tests. The results from the numerical windscreen model are consistent with the results from the subsystem tests. Comparison of head injury criterion (HIC) values gives an additional validation of the consistency of our model.