Investigation on the dynamic characteristic of occupant during the frontal collision between high-speed train and obstacle

•The dynamics of occupant during the frontal collision were investigated.•Collision speeds and angles had important influences on occupant injuries.•The risk boundaries for GM/RT2100 and AIS 3 + injury risk ≤ 5 % were reached. High-speed train may collide with many obstacles, which can cause serious occupant injury. This study aims to investigate the dynamic characteristic of occupant during the frontal collision between high-speed train and obstacle. The finite element method was used to establish the collision model between the head vehicle of the train and obstacle. The frontal collision simulation tests under three collision conditions were established. The dynamic characteristics of occupants under different collision speeds and collision angles were explored. According to the above research, the influences of collision angle and speed on occupant injuries were systematically studied, and the risk boundaries for Railway Group Standard GMRT2100: Rail Vehicle Structures and Passive Safety (GM/RT2100) and Abbreviated injury scale ≥ 3 (AIS 3 + ) injury risk ≤ 5 % were finally proposed. The results show that the occupant injuries increased with the increase of collision speed, and most of the injury values at the collision angle of 20° were the minimum. The risk boundary for AIS 3 + injury risk ≤ 5 % was higher than that for GM/RT2100. The findings in this study are helpful to understand the occupant injury mechanism during the frontal collision between high-speed train and obstacle.