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Current state-of-the-art vehicles implement pedestrian protection features that rely on pedestrian detection sensors and algorithms to trigger when impacting a pedestrian. During the development phase, the vehicle must “learn” to discriminate pedestrians from the rest of potential impacting objects. Part of the training data used in this process is often obtained in physical tests utilizing legform impactors whose external biofidelity is still to be evaluated. This study uses THUMS as a reference to assess the external biofidelity of the most commonly used impactors (Flex-PLI, PDI-1 and PDI-2). This biofidelity assessment was performed by finite element simulation measuring the bumper beam forces exerted by each surrogate on a sedan and a SUV. The bumper beam was divided in 50 mm sections to capture the force distribution in both vehicles. This study, unlike most of the pedestrian-related literature, examines different impact locations and velocities.

Vehicle front-end geometry and stiffness characteristics have been shown to influence pedestrian lower extremity response and injury patterns. The goal of this study is to compare the lower extremity response and injuries of post mortem human surrogates (PMHS) tested in full-scale vehicle-pedestrian impact experiments with a small sedan and a large sport utility vehicle (SUV). The pelves and lower limbs of six PMHS were instrumented with six-degree-of-freedom instrumentation packages. The PMHS were then positioned laterally in mid-stance gait and subjected to vehicle impact at 40 km/h with either a small sedan (n=3) or a large SUV (n=3). Detailed descriptions of the pelvic and lower extremity injuries are presented in conjunction with global and local kinematics data and high speed video images. Injured PMHS knee joints reached peak lateral bending angles between 25 and 85 degrees (exceeding published injury criteria) at bending rates between 1.1 deg/ms and 3.7 deg/ms.

A dynamic rollover test system (DRoTS) capable of simulating rollover crashes in a laboratory was designed for research use at the University of Virginia. The goal of the current study is to describe the system's capabilities and specifications as well as to explore the limitations of the system's ability to simulate rollover crashes. The test apparatus was designed to permit simulation of a single roof-to-ground interaction of a rollover crash with the potential to be modified for evaluation of pre-roof contact occupant motion. Special considerations were made to permit testing of both dummies and post-mortem human surrogates in both production vehicles and a parametric test buck. DRoTS permits vertical translation, pitch, and roll of the test vehicle while constraining longitudinal and lateral translations and yaw. The study details the ranges of test parameters capable with the DRoTS and evaluates the limitations of the system relative to rollover crash conditions.

Experimental tests were performed on the modified Polar-II pedestrian dummy lower extremity components to evaluate their biofidelity in lateral impact loading corresponding to a 40 km/h pedestrian-car collision. The bending moment-angle response from a newly developed knee joint, dynamically loaded in four-point valgus bending, was compared against previously published postmortem human subject (PMHS) response corridors. In addition to the stiffness characteristics of the knee joint, individual ligament forces were also recorded during the bending tests. The evaluated force-relative elongation response of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in the new knee was compared against PMHS data on MCL tensile stiffness. Lower extremity long bones developed for improved anthropometrical accuracy and deformability were dynamically loaded in latero-medial three-point bending.

In order to investigate pedestrian injury mechanism by representing whole body kinematics of a pedestrian, a pedestrian dummy (POLAR II) has been developed. Previous studies indicated that the original pelvis design needed to be modified from the comparison of POLAR II and PMHS (Post Mortem Human Subject) responses in a pedestrian impact test with a SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle). In addition, according to the results of an in-depth investigation of pedestrian versus SUV or mini-van accidents in the US, pelvis fracture was found to be most frequent in AIS 2+ pelvis and lower limb injuries. Based on these findings, the POLAR II pelvis was modified for improved biofidelity. The modified pelvis design incorporated the flexible ilium (polyacetal resin) and pubic symphysis (rubber material) as opposed to the original pelvis cast in aluminum. The modified pelvis responses were verified against published isolated pelvic PMHS test results in lateral compression of the pelvis.

Pedestrian - motor vehicle collisions account for approximately 15% of all traffic fatalities in Europe and the US, and 35% or more in Japan and Asian countries. Several studies have addressed this issue, such as the EEVC study. In the development of the test methods, body region priorities are mainly based on studies of pedestrian collisions with passenger vehicles. However recently, the populations of SUVs and LTVs are increasing in many countries. Pedestrian collision data indicate that thoracic and upper abdominal injuries are also frequent in pedestrian collisions where these kinds of vehicles are involved. However, evaluation methods for pedestrian torso injuries are not currently available. This paper describes a study for the evaluation of pedestrian thoracic and upper abdominal injuries using the POLAR II pedestrian dummy.

Two post-mortem human subjects were subjected to dynamic, non-injurious (up to 20% chest deflection) anterior shoulder belt loading at 0.5 m/s and 0.9 m/s loading rates. The human surrogates were mounted to a stationary apparatus that supported the spine and shoulder in a configuration comparable to that achieved in a 48 km/h sled test at the time of maximum chest deformation. A hydraulically driven shoulder belt was used to load the anterior thorax which was instrumented with a load cell for measuring reaction force and uniaxial strain gages at the 4th and 8th ribs. In addition, the deformation of the chest was measured using a 16- camera Vicon 3D motion capture system. In order to investigate the chest deformation pattern and ribcage loading in greater detail, a human finite element (FE) model of the thorax was used to simulate the tests.

This study presents a detailed comparison of internally and externally measured chest deflections resulting from eight tests conducted on three male post mortem human subjects. A hydraulically driven shoulder belt loaded the anterior thorax under a fixed spine condition while displacement data were obtained via a high-speed 16-camera motion capture system (VICON MX™). Comparison of belt displacement and sternal displacement measured at the bone surface provided a method for quantifying effective change in superficial soft tissue depth at the mid sternum under belt loading. The relationship between the external displacement and the decrease in the effective superficial tissue depth was found to be monotonic and nonlinear. At 65 mm of mid-sternal posterior displacement measured externally, the effective thickness of the superficial tissues and air gap between the belt and the skin had decreased by 14 mm relative to the unloaded state.

This investigation explored THOR's force-deflection response to upper abdomen/lower ribcage steering wheel rim impacts in comparison to the Hybrid III and cadaver test subjects. The stationary subjects were impacted by a ballasted surrogate wheel propelled at 4 m/s, a test condition designed to approximate the upper abdomen impacting a steering wheel rim in a frontal crash. Both the standard THOR and the Hybrid III crash dummies were substantially stiffer than the cadavers. Removing THOR's torso skin and foam from the upper abdomen and replacing the standard Hybrid III abdomen with a prototype gel-filled unit produced force-deflection results that were more similar to the cadavers. THOR offers advantages over the Hybrid III because of its ability to measure abdominal deflection. THOR, with modification, would be a useful instrument with which to assess the crashworthiness of steering assemblies and restraint systems in frontal crashes.

A finite element human model has been developed to simulate occupant behavior and to estimate injuries in real-world car crashes. The model represents an average adult male of the US population in a driving posture. Physical geometry, mechanical characteristics and joint structures were replicated as precise as possible. The total number of nodes and materials is around 67,000 and 1,000 respectively. Each part of the model was not only validated against human test data in the literature but also for realistic loading conditions. Additional tests were newly conducted to reproduce realistic loading to human subjects. A data set obtained in human volunteer tests was used for validating the neck part. The head-neck kinematics and responses in low-speed rear impacts were compared between the measured and calculated results. The validity of the lower extremity part was examined by comparing the tibia force in a foot impact between the test data and simulation results.

This paper presents a technique for developing corridors from individual subject responses contained in experimental biomechanical data sets. Force-deflection response is used as an illustrative example. The technique begins with a method for averaging human subject force-deflection responses in which curve shape characteristics are maintained and discontinuities are avoided. Individual responses sharing a common characteristic shape are averaged based upon normalized deflection values. The normalized average response is then scaled to represent the given data set using the mean peak deflection value associated with the set of experimental data. Finally, a procedure for developing a corridor around the scaled normalized average response is presented using standard deviation calculations for both force and deflection.

This paper discusses struck-side occupant thoracic response to side-impact loading and the requirements of a sled system capable of reproducing the relevant motions of a laterally impacted vehicle. A simplified viscoelastic representation of a thorax is used to evaluate the effect of the door velocity-time profile on injury criteria and on the internal stress state of the thorax. Simulations using a prescribed door velocity-time profile (punch impact) are contrasted against simulations using a constant-velocity impact (Heidelberg-type impact). It is found that the stress distribution and magnitude within the thorax, in addition to the maximum thorax compression and viscous response, depend not only on the door-occupant closing velocity, but also on the shape of the door velocity-time profile throughout the time of contact with the occupant. A sled system capable of properly reproducing side-impact door and seat motion is described.

This paper presents an analysis of the displacement measurement of the Hybrid III 50th percentile male dummy chest in quasistatic and dynamic loading environments. In this dummy, the sternal chest deformation is typically characterized using a sliding chest potentiometer, originally designed to measure inward deflection in the central axis of the dummy chest. Loading environments that include other modes of deformation, such as lateral translations or rotations, can create a displacement vector that is not aligned with this sensitive axis. To demonstrate this, the dummy chest was loaded quasistatically and dynamically in a series of tests. A string potentiometer array, with the capability to monitor additional deflection modes, was used to supplement the measurement of the chest slider.

Studies show that the pedestrian population at high risk of injury consists of both young children and adults. The goal of this study is to gain understanding in the mechanisms that lead to injuries for children and adults. Multi-body pedestrian human models of two specific anthropometries, a 6year-old child and a 50th percentile adult male, are applied. A vehicle model is developed that consists of a detailed rigid finite element mesh, validated stiffness regions, stiff structures underlying the hood and a suspension model. Simulations are performed in a test matrix where anthropometry, impact speed and impact location are variables. Bumper impact occurs with the tibia of the 50th percentile adult male and with the thigh of the 6-year-old child. The head of a 50th percentile male impacts the lower windshield, while the 6-year-old child's head impacts the front part of the hood.

This research investigates the variation of pedestrian stance in pedestrian-automobile impact using a validated multi-body vehicle and human model. Detailed vehicle models of a small family car and a sport utility vehicle (SUV) are developed and validated for impact with a 50th percentile human male anthropometric ellipsoid model, and different pedestrian stances (struck limb forward, feet together, and struck limb backward) are investigated. The models calculate the physical trajectory of the multi-body models including head and torso accelerations, as well as pelvic force loads. This study shows that lower limb orientation during a pedestrian-automobile impact plays a dominant role in upper body kinematics of the pedestrian. Specifically, stance has a substantial effect on the subsequent impacts of the head and thorax with the vehicle. The variation in stance can change the severity of an injury incurred during an impact by changing the impact region.

This paper presents a computational study of the effects of three parameters on the resulting thoracic injury criteria in side impacts. The parameters evaluated are a) door velocity-time (V-t) profile, b) door interior padding modulus, and c) initial door-to-occupant offset. Regardless of pad modulus, initial offset, or the criterion used to assess injury, higher peak door velocity is shown to correspond with more severe injury. Injury outcome is not, however, found to be sensitive to the door velocity at the time of first occupant contact. A larger initial offset generally is found to result in lower injury, even when the larger offset results in a higher door velocity at occupant contact, because the increased offset results in contact later in the door V-t profile - closer to the point at which the door velocity begins to decrease. Cases of contradictory injury criteria trends are identified, particularly in response to changes in the pad modulus.

A new pedestrian dummy, called ""POLAR'' has been recently developed. It can be used as a tool not only for the investigation of the mechanism of pedestrian accidents, but also for the assessment of vehicle aggressiveness to pedestrians. This dummy is modified from "'THOR,'' new- generation occupant dummy, in its body structure to reproduce human body kinematics in the event of collision with a vehicle more precisely. Its knee has a human-like structure, with condyles which shape is similar to that of human knee, meniscus, cruciate ligaments and collateral ligaments. Tibias of Polar are made of urethane which bending characteristic is that of human tibia. These features not only make the lateral bending and shearing responses of the leg and knee more human-like but also the whole body kinematics more human- like.

The upper leg component test proposed by EEVC WG17 is one of the tools for the evaluation of upper leg injuries in pedestrian accidents. Meeting the injury criteria set by EEVC for the upper legform impact test is one of the biggest challenges we can find in the reports. This problem was studied in previous papers using simulation models or reconstruction of pedestrian accidents. The POLAR pedestrian dummy was constructed by HONDA R&D and GESAC INC., and some crash tests were conducted with it. The object of this study is to compare EEVC WG17 upper legform impact test conditions for utility vehicles with the full dummy test results. To reconstruct the deformation resulting from tests using the POLAR, the impact energy for the EEVC upper legform impact test should be decreased. Even the upper limit of 700J is too high. Accident data analysis shows that the pelvis is the body part injured by the bonnet leading edge of the utility vehicle.

Although filter class specifications have been defined for most anthropomorphic test devices, no recommendation exists for the instrumented upper extremity. A three-part study was performed to determine the best channel filter class (CFC) to use for the instrumented upper extremity. By analyzing frequency content of signals from accelerometers and load cells, filtering data through three of the four possible CFC's to compare effects on the signals, and performing an injury comparison between cadaver data and the filtered load cell data, CFC 600 was chosen and recommended as the optimum filter class to use for upper extremity testing.

Some rollover testing methodologies require specification of vehicle kinematic parameters including travel speed, vertical velocity, roll rate, and pitch angle, etc. at the initiation of vehicle to ground contact, which have been referred to as touchdown conditions. The complexity of the vehicle, as well as environmental and driving input characteristics make prediction of realistic touchdown conditions for rollover crashes, and moreover, identification of parameter sensitivities of these characteristics, is difficult and expensive without simulation tools. The goal of this study was to study the sensitivity of driver input on touchdown parameters and the risk of rollover in cases of steering-induced soil-tripped rollovers, which are the most prevalent type of rollover crashes. Knowing the range and variation of touchdown parameters and their sensitivities would help in picking realistic parameters for simulating controlled rollover tests.