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The S-beam of sports utility vehicles (SUV's) plays a key role in their frontal crashworthiness performance. To study the deformation patterns of the S-beam, a finite element model of a production SUV was developed and validated. Both experimental and simulation results show that large downward and inward deformation occurred at the S-beam in frontal crash. In order to control the deformation of the S-beam, two structural improvement methods were proposed. Computational simulation and tests were conducted to study their effectiveness. Results show that both of these improved methods can control the deformation of the S-beam effectively. The second design was then adapted to manufacture two SUV's for frontal and 40% offset frontal crashes. Experiments showed that the new S-beam design resulted in improvement in structural performance in full frontal crash as well as 40% offset crash modes.

Previously, a 10-year-old (YO) pediatric thorax finite element model (FEM) was developed and verified against child chest stiffness data measured from clinical cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). However, the CPR experiments were performed at relatively low speeds, with a maximum loading rate of 250 mm/s. Studies showed that the biomechanical responses of human thorax exhibited rate sensitive characteristics. As such, the studies of dynamic responses of the pediatric thorax FEM are needed. Experimental pediatric cadaver data in frontal pendulum impacts and diagonal belt dynamic loading tests were used for dynamic validation. Thoracic force-deflection curves between test and simulation were compared. Strains predicted by the FEM and the injuries observed in the cadaver tests were also compared for injury assessment and analysis. This study helped to further improve the 10 YO pediatric thorax FEM.