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Pediatric Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) are valuable tools for assessing the injury mitigation capability of automotive safety systems. The neck pendulum test is widely used in biofidelity assessment and calibration of the ATD neck, and neck moment vs. angle response requirements are the metrics typically derived from the test. Herein, we describe the basis and methods for modifying the neck pendulum such that it more closely reflects base of the neck accelerations observed by a restrained three-year old ATD in a frontal crash. As a measure of base of the neck acceleration, the x-direction chest acceleration from thirty-one restrained Hybrid III three-year-old ATDs in vehicle frontal crash tests were analyzed. The standard neck pendulum yielded a mean peak acceleration that is 1.2x the peak of vehicle base of the neck accelerations, 1.6x the average, and 0.24x the duration.

Heavy Duty Diesel Truck (HDDT) drivers are required by law to rest 8 hours for every 10 driving hours. As a consequence, the trucks are idled for long periods of time to heat or cool the cabin, to keep the engine warm, to run electrical appliances, and to refrigerate or heat truck cargo. This idling results in gaseous and particulate emissions, wasted fuel and is costly. Various technologies can be used to replace truck idling, including heaters, auxiliary power units, parking space electrification, and heating and air conditioning units in the parking space. In this paper the results of a life cycle analysis are reported giving the associated emissions savings and ecological burdens of these four technologies compared to truck idling. In this analysis the savings related to reduced engine maintenance and increased engine life are included. The fuel consumed and emissions produced by a truck engine at idle was obtained from experiments performed at Aberdeen Test Center (ATC).

This paper describes the development of a non-linear finite element model of a commuter category aircraft seat designed to explore the issue of energy absorption in severe, but survivable, crashes. Using a reference seat, the paper presents a description of the model and the results of finite element modeling of the seat at increasingly severe impact velocities. The paper presents the results of a parallel experimental program, conducted to validate the model, in which instrumented crash dummies were drop tested in the reference seat at the same impact velocities as the simulation. Experimental results are reported for passenger lower lumbar loading, peak pelvic acceleration, and seat structural loading.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is currently sponsoring a research study at Rowan University to develop strategies for reducing diesel emissions from mobile sources such as school buses and class 8 trucks. One such source of diesel emissions results from unnecessary idling of school buses, which is a typical practice that occurs in the mornings to warm up engines and in the afternoon while bus drivers wait to pick up children for their afternoon routes. To quantify emissions and fuel consumption during idling, three school buses equipped with an International T444E, an International DT466E, and a Cummins 5.9L B series engine were instrumented and tested in an environmental chamber. To simulate a wide variety of idling situations, tests were conducted at four different ambient temperatures (20°F, 40°F, 65°F and 85°F) and relative humidity ranging from 37 to 90%.

Several research studies have concluded that light trucks and vans (LTVs) are incompatible with cars in traffic collisions. These studies have noted that crash incompatibility is most severe in side crashes. These early research efforts however were conducted before complete introduction of crash injury countermeasures such as dynamic side impact protection. Based upon U.S. traffic accident statistics, this paper investigates the side crash compatibility of late model cars, light trucks and vans equipped with countermeasures designed specifically to provide side crash protection. The paper explores both LTV-to-car crash compatibility and crash incompatibility in car-to-car collisions.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is currently sponsoring a research study at Rowan University to develop strategies for reducing diesel emissions from mobile sources such as school buses and class 8 trucks. This paper presents the results of mobile school bus testing that has been performed to quantify the emission reduction capabilities of various aftertreatment devices. Particulate filters from Johnson Matthey and Lubrizol were tested along with a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) from Nett Technologies. Three school buses equipped with a 1997 7.3L International T444E, a 1997 7.6L International DT466E, and a 1996 Cummins 5.9L ISB series engine were instrumented and tested at the Aberdeen Test Center at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. Exhaust gas emission measurements were made using a Sensors Semtech-D to measure CO, CO2, NO2, NO, O2, and HC, along with a Sensors PM-300 to measure particulate matter (PM).

The primary description of crash severity in most accident databases is vehicle delta-V. Delta-V has been traditionally estimated through accident reconstruction techniques using computer codes, e.g. Crash3 and WinSmash. Unfortunately, delta-V is notoriously difficult to estimate in many types of collisions including sideswipes, collisions with narrow objects, angled side impacts, and rollovers. Indeed, approximately 40% of all delta-V estimates for inspected vehicles in the National Automotive Sampling System / Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS) 2001 are reported as unknown. The Event Data Recorders (EDRs), now being installed as standard equipment by several automakers, have the potential to provide an independent measurement of crash severity which avoids many of the difficulties of accident reconstruction techniques. This paper evaluates the feasibility of replacing delta-V estimates from accident reconstruction with the delta-V recorded by EDRs.

Previous research has suggested that the pediatric ATD spine, developed from scaling the adult ATD spine, may not adequately represent a child's spine and thus may lead to important differences in the ATD head trajectory relative to a human. To gain further insight into this issue, the objectives of this study were, through non-injurious frontal sled tests on human volunteers, to 1) quantify the kinematic responses of the restrained child's head and spine and 2) compare pediatric kinematic responses to those of the adult. Low-speed frontal sled tests were conducted using male human volunteers (20 subjects: 6-14 years old, 10 subjects: 18-40 years old), in which the safety envelope was defined from an amusement park bumper-car impact.

There is little prior research into chain-collisions, despite their relatively large contribution to injury and harm in motor-vehicle collisions. This study conducted a series of rear-impact, front-impact, and chain-collision impacts using a bumper car ride at an active amusement park as a proxy for automobiles. The purpose was to begin to identify the threshold time range when separate, discrete collisions transition into a hybrid or combined chain-collision mode and provide bases for future analyses. The test series consisted of rear impacts into an occupied target vehicle from a driven bullet vehicle; frontal impacts into a perimeter barrier (wall); chain-collisions consisting of a driven bullet vehicle striking an occupied primary target vehicle, which then collided with a non-occupied secondary target vehicle; and chain-collisions consisting of a driven bullet vehicle striking an occupied primary target vehicle which then collided with a wall.