ASSESSING MOTORCYCLIST PROTECTION SYSTEMS USING FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATIONS

The impact of motorcyclists against the posts of the roadside barriers is one of the most frequently and harmful accidents. In order to avoid or minimize impact effects, different safety systems are being installed in many roads in the world. These safety systems should conform technical standards. European Technical Specification 1317-8 defines how it should be the testing procedure and placement of systems to prevent such accidents. The full-scale crash test with a dummy requires certain values not exceeded in neck forces, moments and Head Injury Criterion (HIC). This paper applies computer simulations (using Finite Element Method) in order to develop a virtual testing program to assess the safety system and evaluate the weaknesses of the mentioned standard.