Search Results

This paper presents the results of biomechanical testing of the SID-IIs beta+-prototype dummy by the Occupant Safety Research Partnership. The purpose of this testing was to evaluate the dummy against its previously established biomechanical response corridors for its critical body regions. The response corridors were scaled from the 50th percentile adult male corridors defined in International Standards Organization Technical Report 9790 to corridors for a 5th percentile adult female, using established International Standards Organization procedures. Tests were performed for the head, neck, shoulder, thorax, abdomen and pelvis regions of the dummy. Testing included drop tests, pendulum impacts and sled tests. The biofidelity of the SID-IIs beta+-prototype was calculated using a weighted biomechanical test response procedure developed by the International Standards Organization.

The dilemma of using a shoulder belt force limiter with a 3-point belt system is selecting a limit load that will balance the reduced risk of significant thoracic injury due to the shoulder belt loading of the chest against the increased risk of significant head injury due to the greater upper torso motion allowed by the shoulder belt load limiter. However, with the use of air bags, this dilemma is more manageable since it only occurs for non-deploy accidents where the risk of significant head injury is low even for the unbelted occupant. A study was done using a validated occupant dynamics model of the Hybrid III dummy to investigate the effects that a prescribed set of shoulder belt force limits had on head and thoracic responses for 48 and 56 km/h barrier simulations with driver air bag deployment and for threshold crash severity simulations with no air bag deployment.

A professional high diver, instrumented with accelerometers, performed sixteen dives from heights between 27-57 ft. For each dive, he executed a 3/4 turn and landed supine on a 3-ft deep mattress which consisted of pieces of low-density urethane foam encased in a nylon cover. Using FM telemetry, sagittal plane decelerations were recorded for a point either on the sternum or the forehead. Impact velocities and corresponding stopping distances for the thorax and the head were calculated from high-speed movies of the dives. For a 57-ft dive, the impact velocity of the thorax was 41 mph with a corresponding stopping distance of 34.6 in. The peak resultant deceleration of the thorax was 49.2 g with a pulse duration of 100 ms. The maximum rate of change of the deceleration of the thorax was 5900 g/s. No discomfort was experienced as a result of this impact. The maximum forehead deceleration occurred during a 47.0-ft drop and exceeded 56 g with a Gadd Severity Index greater than 465.

Two Highway Safety Research Institute (HSRI) dummies were tested and evaluated. Based on the analysis given, the HSI dummy should not be used for vehicle qualification testing. However, many of its components offer viable alternatives for future dummy development. The dummy was found to have inadequate biomechanical fidelity in the head, neck, and chest, although its characteristics were very promising and, as a whole, biomechanically superior to the Hybrid II. Its repeatability and reproducibility in dynamic component tests were better than the Hybrid II dummy. In particular, the HSRI friction joints were outstanding in repeatability and had a significant advantage in usability in that they do not require resetting between tests. In three-point harness and ACRS systems tests, the values of injury criteria produced by the HSRI dummy were generally lower than those obtained with the Hybrid II, especially the femur loads in the ACRS tests.

Details of a new crash simulator and preliminary results from a series of cadaver knee impact experiments were presented at the Eighth Stapp Conference. During the past year additional data concerning injury to the knee-thigh-hip complex have been obtained, and the studies have been extended to consider impact to the chest. Results to date indicate that for knee impacts against a moderately padded surface it is not possible to predict whether failure of the patella, femur or pelvis will occur first, although in these studies femoral fractures occurred most frequently. A force of 1400 lb. is recommended at this time as a reasonably conservative value for the over-all injury threshold level. Volunteers tolerated impact loads to the knee of 800-1000 lb. For loads applied over the sternum through a 25-30 padded surface, static and dynamic thoracic stiffness characteristics were determined for a limited number of cadavers.

Side impact tests were conducted on the EUROSID and SID to assess their biofidelity compared to the response requirements of the international Standards Organization. The body regions evaluated were the head, neck, thorax, shoulder, abdomen, and pelvis. Test conditions and data normalization procedures are outlined in the report. Data plots are given which compare the impact response of each dummy to the ISO requirements. The EUROSID gave humanlike responses for most tests involving padded surface impacts, but its responses were not humanlike for rigid surface impacts. Overall, the EUROSID responses were more humanlike than the responses of the SID.

An evaluation of the four injury risk curves proposed in the NHTSA NCAP for estimating the risk of AIS≻=3 injuries to the head, neck, chest and AIS≻=2 injury to the Knee-Thigh-Hip (KTH) complex has been conducted. The predicted injury risk to the four body regions based on driver dummy responses in over 300 frontal NCAP tests were compared against those to drivers involved in real-world crashes of similar severity as represented in the NASS. The results of the study show that the predicted injury risks to the head and chest were slightly below those in NASS, and the predicted risk for the knee-thigh-hip complex was substantially below that observed in the NASS. The predicted risk for the neck by the Nij curve was greater than the observed risk in NASS by an order of magnitude due to the Nij risk curve predicting a non-zero risk when Nij = 0. An alternative and published Nte risk curve produced a risk estimate consistent with the NASS estimate of neck injury.

The biofidelity impact response corridors that were used to develop the Hybrid III family of dummies were established by scaling the various biofidelity corridors that were defined for the Hybrid III mid-size, adult male dummy. Scaling ratios for the responses of force, moment, acceleration, velocity, deflection, angle, stiffness and time were developed using dimensions and masses that were prescribed for the dummies. In addition, an elastic modulus ratio for bone was used to account for the differences between child and adult bone elastic properties. A similar method is being used by ISO/TC22/SC12/WG 5 to develop biofidelity guidelines for a family of side impact dummies based on scaling the biofidelity impact response corridors that are prescribed for WorldSID, a mid-size, adult male dummy.

This technical paper presents the results of biomechanical testing conducted on the ES-2 dummy by the Occupant Safety Research Partnership and Transport Canada. The ES-2 is a production dummy, based on the EuroSID-1 dummy, that was modified to further improve testing capabilities as recommended by users of the EuroSID-1 dummy. Biomechanical response data were obtained by completing a series of drop, pendulum, and sled tests that are outlined in the International Organization of Standardization Technical Report 9790 that describes biofidelity requirements for the midsize adult male side impact dummy. A few of the biofidelity tests were conducted on both sides of the dummy to evaluate the symmetry of its responses. Full vehicle crash tests were conducted to verify if the changes in the EuroSID-1, resulting in the ES-2 design, did improve the dummy's testing capability. In addition to the biofidelity testing, the ES-2 dummy repeatability, reproducibility and durability are discussed.

The Human Mechanical Simulation Subcommittee of the Human Biomechanics and Simulation Standards Committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers took on the task of defining test procedures and associated response guidelines to be used to assess the level of biofidelity of side impact dummies that are being developed. This paper describes the results of their efforts. Guidelines are provided for assessing the levels of biofidelity of dummies that represent 6-, 12-, and 18-month-old infants, 3-, 6-, and 10-year-old children, and of dummies that represent a small female, midsize male and large male adults. These guidelines were developed by normalizing the side impact biofidelity guidelines that were established by the International Standards Organization for the head, neck, shoulder, thorax, abdomen and pelvis of the midsize adult male.

In 1983, General Motors Corporation (GM) petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to allow the use of the biofidelic Hybrid III midsize adult male dummy as an alternate test device for FMVSS 208 compliance testing of frontal impact, passive restraint systems. To support their petition, GM made public to the international automotive community the limit values that they imposed on the Hybrid III measurements, which were called Injury Assessment Reference Values (IARVs). During the past 20 years, these IARVs have been updated based on relevant biomechanical studies that have been published and scaled to provide IARVs for the Hybrid III and CRABI families of frontal impact dummies. Limit values have also been developed for the biofidelic side impact dummies, BioSID, EuroSID2 and SID-IIs.

In 1983, General Motors Corporation (GM) petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to allow the use of the biofidelic Hybrid III midsize adult male dummy as an alternate test device for FMVSS 208 compliance testing of frontal impact, passive restraint systems. To support their petition, GM made public to the international automotive community the limit values that they imposed on the Hybrid III measurements, which were called Injury Assessment Reference Values (IARVs). During the past 20 years, these IARVs have been updated based on relevant biomechanical studies that have been published and scaled to provide IARVs for the Hybrid III and CRABI families of frontal impact dummies. Limit values have also been developed for the biofidelic side impact dummies, BioSID, ES-2 and SID-IIs.