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The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), established in 1997, is a twelve-university consortium dedicated to research that will impact mankind's next exploratory steps. The NSBRI's Education and Public Outreach Program (EPOP), is supporting NASA's education mission to, “Inspire the next generations…as only NASA can,” through a comprehensive Kindergarten through post-doctoral education program. The goals of the EPOP are to: communicate space exploration biology to schools; support undergraduate and graduate space-based courses and degrees; fund postdoctoral fellows to pursue space life sciences research; and engage national and international audiences to promote understanding of how space exploration benefits people on Earth. NSBRI EPOP presents its accomplishments as an educational strategy for supporting science education reform, workforce development, and public outreach.

We present results which verify the design parameters and suggest performance capabilities/limitations of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite's proposed atmospherics control subassembly. Using a combination of benchtop prototype testing and analytic techniques, we derive control requirements for ammonia. Further, we demonstrate the dehumidification performance of our proposed partial gravity condensing heat exchanger. Ammonia production is of particular concern in rodent habitats. The contaminant is released following chemical degradation of liquid waste products. The rate of production is linked to humidity levels and to the design of habitat modules in terms of bedding substrate, air flow rates, choice of structural materials, and other complex factors. Ammonia buildup can rapidly lead to rodent health concerns and can negatively impact scientific return.

A driving simulator development project at the Systems Engineering and Technical Process Center (SE/TP) is exploring the role of driving simulation in the vehicle design process. The simulator provides two vehicle mockup testing arenas that support a wide field of view, computer-generated image of the road scene which dynamically responds to driver commands as a function of programmable vehicle model parameters. Two unique aspects of the simulator are the fast 65 ms response time and low incidence rate of simulator induced syndrome (about 5%). Preliminary model validation results and data comparing driver performance in a vehicle vs. the simulator indicate accurate handling response dynamics within the on-center handling region (<0.3g lateral acceleration). Applications have included supporting the development of new steering system concepts, as well as evaluating the usability of vehicle controls and displays.

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.

In order to engineer Squeak & Rattle (S&R) free vehicles it is essential to develop an objective measurement method to compare and correlate with customer satisfaction and subjective S&R assessments. Three methods for exciting S&Rs -type surfaces. Excitation methods evaluated were road tests over S&R surfaces, road simulators, and direct body excitation (DBE). The principle of DBE involves using electromagnetic shakers to induce controlled, road-measured vibration into the body, bypassing the tire patch and suspension. DBE is a promising technology for making objective measurements because it is extremely quiet (test equipment noise does not mask S&Rs), while meeting other project goals. While DBE is limited in exposing S&Rs caused by body twist and suspension noises, advantages include higher frequency energy owing to electro-dynamic shakers, continuous random excitation, lower capital cost, mobility, and safety.

As the driving population ages, there is a need to understand the accident patterns of older drivers. Previous research has shown that side impact collisions, usually at an intersection, are a serious problem for the older driver in terms of injury outcome. This study compares the frequency of side impact, intersection collisions of different driver age groups using state and national police-reported accident data as well as an in-depth analysis of cases from a fatal accident study. All data reveal that the frequency of intersection crashes increases with driver age. The state and national data show that older drivers have an increase frequency of intersection crashes involving vehicles crossing paths prior to the collision compared to their involvement in all crash types. When taking into account traffic control devices at an intersection, older drivers have the greatest involvement of multiple vehicle crashes at a signed intersection.

This report presents the test methods and results of a study involving lap/shoulder belted dummies in dynamic dolly rollover tests and inverted vehicle drop tests. Data are presented showing dummy neck loadings resulting from head impacts to the vehicle interior as the vehicle contacts the ground. Comparison of the number and magnitude of axial neckloads are presented for rollcaged and production vehicles, as well as an analysis of the factors which influence neckloads under these conditions.

Although rollover crashes represent a small fraction (approximately 3%) of all motor vehicle crashes, they account for roughly one quarter of crash fatalities to occupants of cars, light trucks, and vans (NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts, 2004). Therefore, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified rollover injuries as one of its safety priorities. Motor vehicle manufacturers are developing technologies to reduce the risk of injury associated with rollover collisions. This paper describes the development by General Motors Corporation (GM) of a suite of laboratory tests that can be used to develop sensors that can deploy occupant protection devices like roof rail side air bags and pretensioners in a rollover as well as a discussion of the challenges of conducting this suite of tests.

This paper describes the ride and handling development process used for the 1997 Corvette. Three levels of suspension are available for the 1997 Corvette: base (FE1), sport (FE3) and RTD or Real Time Damping (F45) suspensions. All suspensions will be discussed in this paper A review of the development and vehicle integration tradeoffs for each of the specific chassis components is included. Control arm bushings, springs, jounce bumpers, anti-roll bars and insulators, tires, shock mounts, shock absorber valving, real-time damping, steering development, alignment and measurements are discussed.

This paper summarizes the results of tests conducted with anesthetized animals that were exposed to a wide range of passenger inflatable restraint cushion forces for a variety of impact sled - simulated accident conditions. The test configurations and inflatable restraint system concepts were selected to produce a broad spectrum of injury types and severities to the major organs of the head, neck and torso of the animals. These data were needed to interpret the significance of the responses of an instrumented child dummy that was being used to evaluate child injury potential of the passenger inflatable restraint system being developed by General Motors Corporation. Injuries ranging from no injury to fatal were observed for the head, neck and abdomen regions. Thoracic injuries ranged from no injury to critical, survival uncertain.

In today's business climate rapid access to, and implementation of, new technology is essential to enhance competitive advantage. In the past, universities have been used for research contracts, but to fully utilize the intellectual resources of education institutions, it is essential to approach these relationships from a new basis: alliance. Alliances permit both parties to become active participants and achieve mutually beneficial goals. This paper will examine the drivers and challenges for industrial -- university alliances from both the industrial and academic perspectives.

NASA has long recognized the advantages of providing improved information interfaces to EVA astronauts and has pursued this goal through a number of development programs over the past decade. None of these activities or parallel efforts in industry and academia has so far resulted in the development of an operational system to replace or augment the current extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) Display and Controls Module (DCM) display and cuff checklist. Recent advances in display, communications, and information processing technologies offer exciting new opportunities for EVA information interfaces that can better serve the needs of a variety of NASA missions. Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International (HSSSI) has been collaborating with Simon Fraser University and others on the NASA Haughton Mars Project and with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boeing, and Symbol Technologies in investigating these possibilities.

The work presented here builds on the practical and effective spot weld fatigue life prediction method, the structural stress method (SSM), that was developed at Stanford University. Constant amplitude loading tests for various spot weld joint configurations have been conducted and the SSM has been shown to accurately predict fatigue life. In this paper refinements to the structural stress approach are first presented, including a variable amplitude fatigue life prediction method based on the SSM and Palmgren-Miner's rule. A test matrix was designed to study the fatigue behavior of spot welds under tensile shear loading conditions. Constant amplitude tests under different R-ratios were performed first to obtain the necessary material properties. Variable amplitude tests were then performed for specimens containing single and multiple welds.

This paper presents the results of a series of over 30 impact sled simulations of racing car frontal crashes conducted as part of the GM Motorsports Safety Technology Research Program. A Hyge™ impact sled fitted with a simulated racing car seat and restraint system was used to simulate realistic crash loading with a mid-size male Hybrid III dummy. The results of tests, in the form of measured loads, displacements, and accelerations, are presented and comparisons made with respect to the levels of these parameters seen in typical passenger car crash testing and to current injury threshold values.

With parts consolidation and increasing systems performance requirements, instrument panel systems have become increasingly complex. For these systems, the use of predictive engineering tools can often reduce development time and cost. This paper outlines the use of such tools to support the design and development of an instrument panel (IP) system. Full-scale test results (NVH, head impact, etc.) of this recently introduced IP system were compared with predicted values. Additionally, results from moldfilling analysis and manufacturing simulation are also provided.

Global regulations intended to enhance pedestrian protection in a vehicle collision, thereby reducing the severity of pedestrian injuries, are presenting significant challenges to vehicle designers. Vehicle hoods, for example, must absorb a significant amount of energy over a small area while precluding impact with a hard engine compartment component. In this paper, a simple passive approach for pedestrian protection is introduced in which thin metal alloy sheets are bent to follow a C-shaped cross-sectional profile thereby giving them energy absorbing capacity during impact when affixed to the underside of a hood. Materials considered were aluminum (6111-T4, 5182-O) and magnesium (AZ31-O, AZ61-O, ZEK100) alloys. To evaluate the material effect on the head injury criterion (HIC) score without a hood, each C-channel absorber was crushed in a drop tower test using a small dart.

A primary concern in the development of a passenger inflatable restraint system is the possibility that a child could be in the path of the deploying cushion either due to initial position at the time of an accident or due to precrash braking accompanying an accident. Previous studies by General Motors and Volvo have indicated that serious injuries to children are possible if the cushion/child interaction forces are not controlled by system design. This paper describes an instrumented child dummy which was developed to provide measurements of the various cushion/child interaction forces. An analysis is given describing the types of injuries which could be associated with the various types of interaction forces. These results were used to develop appropriate dummy instrumentation for indicating the severity of the cushion/child interaction. A description of the modifications made to an existing three-year-old child dummy are described.

This paper describes a numerical simulation technique applicable to the FMVSS 214 side impact test through the use of the finite element method (FEM) technology. The paper outlines the development of the side impact dummy (SID), moving deformable barrier (MDB) and the test vehicle FEM models, as well as the development of new advanced constitutive models of materials and algorithms in LS-DYNA3D which are related to the topic. Presented in the paper are some initial simulation problems which were encountered and solved, as well as the correlation of the simulation data to the physical test.

The nearly 77 million baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, can say that they are the automobile generation. Now turning 60 one every seven seconds, what are the new safety challenges and opportunities posed by the next generation of older adults? This paper presents a modified Haddon matrix to identify key product development, design and liability issues confronting the automobile industry and related stakeholders. The industry is now at a critical juncture to address the development of key technological innovations as well as the changing policy and liability environments being reshaped by an aging population.

Computer simulation of extravehicular activity (EVA) is increasingly being used in planning and training for EVA. A space suit model is an important, but often overlooked, component of an EVA simulation. Because of the inherent difficulties in collecting angle and torque data for space suit joints in realistic conditions, little data exists on the torques that a space suit’s wearer must provide in order to move in the space suit. A joint angle and torque database was compiled on the Extravehicular Maneuvering Unit (EMU), with a novel measurement technique that used both human test subjects and an instrumented robot. Using data collected in the experiment, a hysteresis modeling technique was used to predict EMU joint torques from joint angular positions. The hysteresis model was then applied to EVA operations by mapping out the reach and work envelopes for the EMU.