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Computational techniques are being used more and more in automotive safety engineering. However there is still a need for further development of biofidelic tools for assessing human responses in crash situations. We therefore designed a 3D finite element model of the human body and constituted a large experimental database for the purpose of validation. The geometry of the seated 50th percentile adult male was chosen for the model. The number of elements used to represent the anatomy was limited to 10 000. The material laws come from existing literature and, when necessary, parameter identification processes were used. Special attention was paid to the constitution of the validation database. Boundary conditions and results from most of the available cadaver and volunteer experiments were analyzed. In total, more than 30 test configurations were selected.

In the past, many studies have been dedicated to the comparison of dummies and human body behavior in different impact conditions. However, the complex boundary conditions generated by a complete restraint system render it difficult to compare both human surrogates in a car environment. Furthermore, the great dispersion among car occupants is an additional difficulty which is difficult to overcome with experimental studies, Computer simulation, as far as a validated human body model is available, gives a unique possibility to assess the influence of some restraint parameters, whilst all remaining parameters are unchanged. To this end, a 3D finite element human body model validated in many different impact configurations against a large number of biomechanical corridors was used. In order to compare responses, models of Hybrid III and Eurosid 1 dummies were also used.

This study aims to provide a set of reference post-mortem human subject tests which can be used, with easily reproducible test conditions, for developing and/or validating pedestrian dummies and computational human body models against a road vehicle. An adjustable generic buck was first developed to represent vehicle front-ends. It was composed of four components: two steel cylindrical tubes screwed on rigid supports in V-form represent the bumper and spoiler respectively, a quarter of a steel cylindrical tube represents the bonnet leading edge, and a steel plate represents the bonnet. These components were positioned differently to represent three types of vehicle profile: a sedan, a SUV and a van. Eleven post-mortem human subjects were then impacted laterally in a mid-gait stance by the bucks at 40 km/h: three tests with the sedan, five with the SUV, and three with the van.