Bracing Position for Side-Facing Seats During Impact 2000-01-2111

Side-facing seats are present in a variety of aircraft. During impact, these seats load the occupants in a different manner than typical forward-facing seats, namely the occupants are exposed to a lateral impact. In order to minimize injury during a crash, it is necessary for the occupants to prepare themselves and be situated in a position for maximum protection. In an effort to understand occupant initial position in a side-facing seat, a 3-D rigid-body model was developed of a side-facing seat configuration with three occupants, using the Articulated Total Body (ATB) program. The occupants were seated side-by-side in webbed troop-style seats, and each occupant was restrained by a lap belt. Three different initial occupant positions were studied, and each of the three occupants in a given simulation were seated in the same position. A 10 G lateral pulse with an approximate duration of 200 ms was applied to the vehicle. The pulse was obtained from the Biodynamics Data Bank at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The results of the center occupant were used to evaluate the different positions. The best position was determined to be seated with feet on the floor, leaning full forward with head rotated toward chest and hands braced behind head. This position corresponds closely to the bracing position for frontal impacts.