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This paper describes the mathematical modeling of occupant kinematics in rollover accidents using the MVMA 2-D occupant motion simulation software. What little information is available on the kinematics of vehicle occupants during rollover accidents has been obtained either after the fact by accident reconstruction or by expensive experimentally-staged events. The paper describes the use of less expensive analytical techniques to graphically illustrate the applicability of occupant motion simulation computer models to this problem.

The timing of liver laceration in swine during the course of a blunt impact was investigated. The swine were impacted on the upper abdomen by the lower segment of a steering wheel at 6, 9 and 12 m/s. The degree of compression in each impact was controlled independently from 10 to 50%. By varying when “the punch of an impact was pulled,” we reproduced progressive segments of a longer duration blunt impact. Autopsy of the subjects demonstrated that lacerations were initiated after 8 ms of loading at 9 m/s and 6 ms of loading at 12 m/s. The time of injury was concurrent with the time when the Viscous response exceeded a threshold of 1.2 m/s in our specimens. The Viscous injury criterion, defined as the peak Viscous response, was found to be the best predictor of liver laceration. We conclude that the Viscous response relates to the actual etiology of injury, in addition to being an excellent correlative measure.