The research activities presented in this paper were carried out within Sub-Project 7 of APROSYS (Advanced PROtection SYStems), a European Integrated Project implemented within the 6th Framework Programme which main objective is the development and introduction of critical technologies that improve passive safety for all European road users in all relevant accident types and accident severities. Furthermore, this IP aims to increase the level of competitiveness of the European industry by developing new safety technologies (safety is a proven selling point) and by developing design tools and evaluation methods that will increase the efficiency of the development process of the involved industries.

SP7 (Virtual Testing) deals with the development of knowledge and tools to facilitate the design and evaluation of advanced crash protection systems by virtual testing (numerical simulation). Within SP7 a Virtual Testing (VT) demonstrator based on a combination of simulations and physical tests for pedestrian protection (head impact) was delivered. Where VT has proven to be predictive and where benefits in terms of increasing safety are expected.

In a first approach, experimental adult head form impacts against bonnet structures were performed. Besides, a series of virtual tests with standard adult head form numerical model and numerical model of the test rig were performed. VT was performed with limited data (only initial conditions) from physical test and no validation results were provided to adjust the nominal simulation model. Finally, a study of experimental testing variation using stochastic models was performed. The effects of these variations were quantified using stochastic analysis.