A study on the potential risk of traumatic brain injury due to ground impact in a vehicle-pedestrian collision using full-scale finite element models

In this study, a validated pedestrian finite element model with a detailed brain was utilised to investigate the potential risk of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in relation to ground impact in a vehicle-pedestrian collision. We found that pre-impact transverse pedestrian speed affects post-impact kinematics and subsequent kinetics, which are considerably unpredictable due to the intrinsic complexity of pedestrian crash, and ground impact is likely to cause serious TBIs for struck pedestrians. This finding suggests effective countermeasures for ground impact should be taken into account to reduce TBIs involving vehicle with a higher profile even at the low impact speed levels.