Mapping the Crashworthiness Domains: Investigations Based on Scientometric Analysis

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 10 Issue: 08 | Aug 2023 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2023, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 8.226 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 959
Mapping the Crashworthiness Domains: Investigations Based on
Scientometric Analysis
R Teddy Samuel1, M Jaikumar 2, S.K. Vignesh3
1Research Scholar, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai, India
2Professor, Dept of Automobile Engineering, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai, India
3 Research Scholar, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai, India
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Abstract - This paper provides a scientometric analysis of
research advances in the crashworthiness of vehicle analysis.
Using the software of VosViewer andMATLAB, ascientometric
analysis is carried out by reviewing 1047 papers with various
perspectives from 1969 to 2023, providing an integrated
knowledge mind map of crashworthiness. Thefindingssuggest
that the United States, Germany, China, India, the United
Kingdom, Japan, and Italy have made the most significant
contributions to the field of crashworthiness. Important
institutions, publications, citations, and article keywords are
also covered. The main goalsofcrashworthinessaretoprevent
energy transmission entry into the car's compartment during
collision, to stop crushing and collapsing, and to use new
geometrical designs, materials, and parameter choices to
absorb impact energy through controlled mechanisms.
Analysis found that the number of publicationsincreasedfrom
one (0.10%) in 1969 to 52 (4.97%) in 2016 and observedgood
progress in scholarly literature, in particular, the study of
crashworthiness analysis, which is rapidly growing. This
analysis generatesathoroughandintegratedknowledge mind
map that adds to the crashworthiness information network
and enables researchers and softwaredevelopersinthefieldof
crashworthiness to gain useful insights about next research
paths and advances.
Key Words: Crashworthiness, Collision, EnergyAbsorption,
Scientometric analysis
1.INTRODUCTION
Every year, 1.3 million people lose their lives in traffic
accidents. The severity of a collision's effects and the
likelihood that one will happen are strongly correlated with
an increase in average speed. The risk of fatal accidentsrises
by 4%, and the risk of serious accidents rises by 3%, for
every one percent increase in mean speed.Automobilesplay
a crucial role in reducing serious injuries and avoiding
collisions. A number of UN regulationsonvehiclesafetyhave
the potential to save a lot of lives if they are implemented in
the manufacturing and production standards. (Road Traffic
Injuries, WHO)Crashworthinessemphasisesoccupantsafety
to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries. The
research on crashworthiness can achieve the World Health
Organisation's (WHO) ambitious goal of preventing at least
50% of deaths and injuries from traffic accidents by 2030.
2. DATA AND METHODS
2.1 Source of Data
Scopus is the world’s largestabstractandcitationdatabaseof
peer-reviewed literature, includingscientificjournals,books,
and conference proceedings, covering research topicsacross
all scientific and technical disciplines, ranging frommedicine
and social sciences to the arts and humanities. This study
used the Scopus source database to find the data, and it
contains a database of 1047 documents from 1969 to 2023.
After screening, we obtained 1047 documents from 56
different countries, 1010 research institutions, 663
conferences, 349 journals, and 1036 authors.
Methods
The Scientometric study covered all research publications
indexed in the Scopus database on crashworthiness. It
accessed the contributions on "Crashworthiness",
"Automotive", and other related areas to crashes. Using the
followingsearchquery,thesubject-relatedbibliographicdata
were retrieved from Scopus on March 30, 2023, without
restriction on time span. TS=("automotive*" AND "crash*"
AND "design*" OR "simulation*" OR "crashworthiness*" OR
"materials*" OR "deformation*" OR "energy*" OR
"absorption*") - Timespan: Allyears.Theretrieveddatawere
carefully examined, and 1,047 records were included in the
analysis. The information downloaded was dissected for
various parameters, like type of document, references, and
usage; publication andcitation growth year-wise; topsource
journals and keywords used most frequently; countries that
work together; pattern of authorship and the most prolific
authors; and the highest contribution of organisations. MS-
Excel was used to analyse the data, and VOS viewer and
MATLAB were used to create a visual representation of the
keywords that were used together. This study included
crashworthiness-related Scopus-indexed publications as of
March 30, 2023. As a result, scholars ought to take the
findings of this study into account inlightoftheselimitations.
3.DATA ANALYSIS
Figure 1 shows the year-wise distribution of publications on
crashworthiness from1969to2023usingMATLAB.Thetotal
number of records in the dataset is 1,047. The number of

publications related to crashworthiness shows an upward
trend from 1969 to 2016, with the highest numberofrecords
published in 2016 (52 records). After 2016, the number of
records fluctuates, with a relatively small number of
publications in some years. The most recent years, 2020,
2021, 2022, and 2023, show a moderate number of
publications (ranging from 5 to 37 records). Based on this
information, crashworthiness appearstobeathrivingfieldof
study with varying publication rates in recent years.
Fig. 1. Year wise distribution of publications from 1969 to
2023
3.1 Top 11 Countries with most significant
contributions to the field of crashworthiness
According to Figure 2 and Table 1, the four active
countries with the greatest number of publications are the
United States of America, Germany, China, and India.
Although the ACI is only 9.6 for the UnitedStates,whichisthe
lowest among the top 11 countries with the highest number
of publications, the number of publications by United States
scholars ranks first globally. It is evident that the United
States research recognition still has a long way to go. China
has the highest ACI index among the top 4 countries with the
highest publications. However, despite having the lowest
numberofpublications,Australia,Turkey,Italy,andIranhave
a high ACI, indicating that their research recognition levels
are relatively high.
Fig 2. Crashworthiness Density Visualization with Co-
Authorship Type Analysis and Country Unit Analysis
Table -1: Top Countries with ACI
S.No. Country
No. of
documents
TC ACI
1 United
States
469 4497 9.6
2 German 85 770 9.06
3 China 72 987 13.71
4 India 52 340 6.5
5 Japan 49 413 8.4
6 United
Kingdom
46 533 11.6
7 Australia 28 665 23.75
8 Italy 25 514 20.56
9 Spain 18 261 14.5
10 Iran 12 239 19.92
11 Turkey 12 262 21.8
3.2 Distribution of publication types and Number of
Records
The number of records related to crashworthiness for
nine different types of publications is shown in Figure 3.
Conference papers are the most common type of document,
with 663 records accounting for63.32%,followedbyarticles
with 349 records (33.33%). Compared to an article,
conference papers are 50% more expensive. The other 6
records are for reviews (16), book chapters (8), conference
reviews (5), notes (3), books (2), and one short survey.
Researchers, students, and professionals who are interested
in crashworthiness and want to know what kinds of
publications are available on the subject might find this
information helpful.
Fig 3. Distribution of publication types and Number of
Records

3.3 Top Contribution
Retrieved publications were also analyzed by means of
citation. Therefore, the feature"TopCitedArticles," shownin
Table 2, was used to calculate the total citations of both
authors and total citations per year. The first rank of the
article belongs to Jacob, George C. TC 319, and the TC per
year is 14.50. The average number of cited references per
article varied in the general search over the last 20 years,
between a maximum of 319 in 2002 and a minimum of 110
in 2017. The maximum TC per year shows 16.13 in 2008,for
the article published by Liao and Xingtao, and 15.71 by Lea
K. in 2017.
Top 11 cited articles are presented in the Table 2
Table- 2: Top cited articles
S.No First Author Year Title TC TC/Y
1
Jacob,
George C.
2002
Energy absorption
in polymer
composites for
automotive
crashworthiness
319
14.50
2
Liao,
Xingtao
2008
Multi-objective
optimization for
crash safety
design of vehicles
using stepwise
regression model
258 16.13
3
Kononen,
Douglas W
2011
Identification and
validation of a
logistic regression
model for
predicting serious
injuries associated
with motor
vehicle crashes
174 13.38
4
Bisagni,
Chiara
2005
Progressive
crushing of fiber-
reinforced
composite
structural
components of a
Formula One
racing car
163 8.58
6 Lee, K. 2005
Evaluation of
automotive
forward collision
warning and
collision
avoidance
algorithms
163 8.58
7 Mayer, R.R. 1996
Application of
topological
optimization
techniques to
structural
129 4.61
crashworthiness
8
Duddeck,
Fabian
2008
Multidisciplinary
optimization of
car bodies
118 7.38
9 Oliver, S 2007
Dual phase versus
TRIP strip steels:
Microstructural
changes as a
consequence of
quasi-static and
dynamic tensile
testing
113 12.56
10
Goel,
Manmohan
Dass
2015
Deformation,
energy absorption
and crushing
behavior of single-
, double- and
multi-wall foam
filled square and
circular tubes
113 6.65
11 Kisters T 2017
Dynamic impact
tests on lithium-
ion cells
110 15.71
3.4 Co-occurrence of Keywords
The keywords convey the major ideas of the article. As a
result, a keyword analysis can be used to pinpoint the
knowledge's expanding research horizons. Figure 2 depicts
the top 41 keywords from the crashworthiness studies.
"Crashworthiness" has the highest total link strength and
number of occurrences, followed by "energy absorption,"
which is the type of crashworthiness that is developed and
used the most. "Optimisation" and "FiniteElementMethods",
"Crash","CrashBox,"and"Safety"implythatdesign,research,
and development processes must in large part fulfil safety
and performance as the fundamental requirements of
crashworthiness. In recent years, grooves,", "beads," and
"holes" as "triggers" have graduallyemergedastheprevalent
energy absorption solution for crashworthiness; however,
there are still numerous technical issues to be resolved. As
shown in Fig. 2, VOSviewer was utilised to implement and
collect a keyword co-occurrence analysis of the
crashworthiness investigations. The hubs address the
keywords, and the sizes of the nodes represent how
frequently the associated keywords occur and how strongly
two nodes are connected to one another. When it is thicker,
there is a stronger relationship between the terms. In Fig. 2,
there are four clusters in theco-occurrencenetwork;theblue
cluster has the biggest volume, followed by the pink and red
clusters, and the yellow cluster has the smallest volume. The
keyword with the highest notable recurrence in the blue
group is "Crashworthiness" (127); other keywords with
greater frequencies include "Energy Absorption" (42),
"Optimisation," "Finite Element Techniques," "Crash," and
"CrashBox."Theterm"crashworthiness"appearsthroughout

the entire collection.Thegeneralresearchfocusareasinclude
enhancing the crash box and vehicle mechanisms safety
performance by fusing relevant literature and other cluster
keywords.
Fig. 4 Network Co-occurrence Visualization with Type of
Analysis and Author’s Keyword Unit Analysis
3.5 Most relevant sources
The number of papers on crashworthiness that were
published by various sources is shown in Table 3. SAE
Technical Paper ranked first in the list of publications, with
413 major journalspublished.FollowedbyAccidentAnalysis
and Prevention, which published 35 (3.34%) papers, the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Applied
Mechanics Division (AMD), and the International Journal of
Crashworthiness, which published 27 (2.57%) papers. The
number of publications published by the first- and second-
ranked journals was vastly different. It demonstrated how
prominent and high-quality the research is in the SAE
Technical Paper.
Fig-5 Overlay Visualization of Bibliographic Type of
Analysis with Source Unit Analysis
Table-3 The major journals that published
Crashworthiness research from 1969 to 2023
Sources Articles %
SAE TECHNICAL PAPERS 413 39.44
ACCIDENT ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION 35 3.34
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERS, APPLIED MECHANICS DIVISION,
AMD
27 2.57
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
CRASHWORTHINESS
27 2.57
ASME INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING CONGRESS AND EXPOSITION,
PROCEEDINGS (IMECE)
19 1.81
THIN-WALLED STRUCTURES 16 1.52
COMPOSITE STRUCTURES 14 1.33
KEY ENGINEERING MATERIALS 12 1.14
VDI BERICHTE 12 1.14
SAE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING
11 1.05
3.6 Funding sponsor for crashworthiness
publication
The funders of crashworthiness publications are listed in
this table. The ability of a vehicle or its components to
safeguard occupants in the event of a crash is referred to as
crashworthiness. The sponsors are listed in the table in
order of how many documents they have fundedinthisarea.
The data cover a wide range of nations and regions, with 15
related publications funded by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China,thelargestsponsor.TheUSDepartment
of Energy is the second-biggest supporter, subsidising nine
distributions. A wide range of sponsors, including
governments, research councils,universities,andbusinesses
from all over the world, are depicted in the table.
Table- 4: Funding sponsor for crashworthiness
publication
S.N
o. Funding sponsor
Docume
nts
1 National Natural Science Foundation of China 15
2 U.S. Department of Energy 9
3 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 5
4
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council 4
5 National Science Foundation 4
6
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities 3

7 Generalitat de Catalunya 3
8 National Research Foundation of Korea 3
9
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada 3
10
State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and
Energy 3
3.7 Author’s impact
Table 7 displays the author's crashworthiness h-index, g-
index, m-index, TC, NP, and PY values from 1985 to 2011.
Gabler HC topped the list with the highest h-index (7), g-
index (11), and NP (14) values, despite having the fewest
citations (127). The next five authors to achieve the same h-
index value were Belingardi G., Gradall JR, Prasad P., Sato K.,
and Wooley RL. It is essential to note that Duddeck F. has a
TC 204 with an NP of 6, whereas Belingardi G. has a TC 248
with an NP of 8; this demonstrates the high quality of their
research article. With fewer publications, the authors
Belingardi G. (0.333) and Bose D. (0.308) had the highest m-
index. In 1997, Dugges J. obtained NP 9 with a lower TC (84)
but a g-index of 9.
Challenges
Due to the large population and shifting distribution of
transportation use, crashworthiness faces numerous
research gaps, including in vehicle fuel efficiency,safety, and
consumer demands. Challenges with crashworthiness are
discussed in this section.
C1: Vehicle that is safer in a crash: There has not been a
consistent rise in the number of research articles that have
been published. The vehicle design, materials, and
parameters of new and improved vehicles ought to be the
focus of additional research.
C2: Improve the level of research recognition: Anarticlethat
is simple to read will greatly benefit from having a well-
organised, high-quality paper on a hot topic ornewresearch
problem that includes all of the essential components
necessary to convey the study'sfindings.Authorsofresearch
articles should promote their work within their networks,
inform their colleagues and students,andencouragethem to
read the journal and cite it. This will improve the level of
recognition for citations.
C3: Journals ought to be expanded in the field of
crashworthiness.
C4: Researchers need to know how popular and influential
their publications are in the scholarly community through
citations.
C5: Choosing relevant keywords will improve search engine
rankings.
C6: It sheds light on the most prevalent means by which
researchers in the crashworthinessfieldsharetheirfindings.
C7. Tangible opportunities for researchers: Researchers
should speak up to learn about new ideas, policies, and
funding opportunities. Funding organisations should pave
the way for a change in practises and policies that will make
it easier for everyone, particularly young researchers and
students, to access funding opportunities across
international borders.
C8—Hot Streak Phenomena: A challenging task at the
beginning of a researcher's success could not only provide a
better understanding of how influence grows, but it could
also guide and prepare high-impact researchers.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Crashworthiness is currently undergoing rapid growth in a
variety of vehicle safety disciplines, including engineering
and transportation. The world's top research topic is the
United States, with substantial positions being held by
Germany, China, and India. Globalisation may contribute to
the ongoing challenge of crashworthiness progress among
manufacturers and researchers. The primaryresearchareas
in the field of vehicle safety during the past 30 years have
been collision avoidance systems, pre-crash systems, and
active safety. With the use of simulation technologies, the
study of crashworthiness recognition under various
circumstances is growing and will continue in the future.
According to the predictions made in this paper, the study of
crashworthiness will gradually increase through crash
simulation procedures using multiple software packages, a
technique that will continue to grow in interdisciplinary
fields. It is crucial to establish as a conclusion that
crashworthiness is a multidisciplinary field of study with
important implicationsforvehiclesafety.Eachyear,research
in this area increases; however, it fluctuates more than in
other fields. The current information might provide
accommodating data to the researchers who are entrusted
with further developingexplorationandexecutioninVehicle
Safety.

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