Roger P. Daniel

A Biomechanical Analysis of Head, Neck, and Torso Injuries to Child Surrogates Due to Sudden Torso Acceleration

The authors report on the injuries to the head, neck and thorax of fifteen child surrogates, subjected to varying levels of sudden acceleration. Measured response data in the child surrogate tests and in matched tests with a three-year-old child test dummy are compared to the observed child surrogates injury levels to develop preliminary tolerance data for the child surrogate. The data are compared with already published data in the literature.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SID-IIS DUMMY

A new dummy, the SID-IIs, a small (s) second generation (II) side impact dummy (SID) is reported. The SID-IIs is being developed to: 1) help evaluate proposed side impact countermeasures, such as side airbags, for the smaller segment of the population. This smaller segment includes both children and small adults; 2) help harmonize between existing side impact dummies toward one design worldwide by offering the begining of a family of biofidelic Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATD) with as much worldwide input as possible. The dummy weighs 43.5 kg, is 790 mm high and has over 100 data channels available.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOR LOWER LATERAL FORCE ARMRESTS

During 1990 and 1991, a number of crash tests were experimentally conducted to help evaluate the then-new BIOSID advanced side impact dummy in relation to its durability and measurement capability. The BIOSID delta-deflection test procedure has made it possible to begin phasing in lower lateral force armrests in all Ford cars and trucks. The BIOSID dummy realistically indicates armrest lateral stiffness and therefore is the best tool currently available to assess armrest lateral stiffness in relation to abdominal injury potential. The BIOSID dummy may be used effectively to help develop lower lateral force armrests. The EUROSID-1 dummy also can be used to help indicate abdominal injury potential, although the injury potential has to be inferred from internal loading instead of direct compression and viscous criterion measurements.

The design and experimental use of a chest load-distribution transducer and force-indicating legs for the part 572 dummy

The current Part 572 50th percentile male dummys chest and legs only indirectly and incompletely measure the forces acting upon them - by spinal acceleration for the chest and by mid-femur axial force for the legs. A new chest and set of legs have been designed and are in experimental use in a Part 572 dummy which far more completely measure the forces acting upon them during crash testing. These two new test devices, a chest load-distribution transducer and a pair of force-indicating legs, have been developed as an aid to developing improved vehicle occupant restraint systems. The chest load-distribution transducer is a modification of a Part 572 50th percentile male dummy thorax to permit dynamic measurements of three components of restraint system loads applied to six key segments of the rib cage during restraint system testing. The force-indicating dummy legs are completely new from the foot to the thigh. These legs permit the measurement of most of the skeletal forces that are likely to be experienced by a dummys legs during leg-to-instrument panel (or knee bolster) contact in dynamic restraint system testing. This paper discusses the development and implementation of both of these new test devices.

The Impact Behavior of the Hybrid II Dummy

The head, chest and femurs of three Hybrid II dummies were impacted with a ballistic pendulum at various angles to determine what differences in accelerometer and femur load cell putput would result for a constant energy input. Also evaluated were suspicious tension loads in the femur load cell putput when the legs were subjected to obvious off-center impacts during crash tests. It was found that the dummy legs can be subjected to very high torsion and bending loads which can have a significant effect on the femur load cell axial load outputs.

A Biomechanical Evaluation of the Ford Side Impact Body Block and the SID and APR Side Impact Dummies

A test fixture for use on the Hyge Sled was fabricated to NHTSA specifications, matching the fixture used at Heidelberg University to measure forces on cadavers in side impact configurations. Tests were conducted at 16, 22, 24, and 32 km/h to simulate both the APR cadaver drop tests and Heidelberg sled tests. Comparisons to the cadaver data were made with the Ford Side Impact Body Block and the APR and SID dummies. Test results are shown and discussed.