Biomechanical Analysis of Protective Countermeasures in Underride Motor Vehicle Accidents

This paper evaluates the injury potential to occupants during side underride crashes using the car-to-trailer crash methodology. Four crash tests were conducted into the side of a stationary trailer fitted with the side underride guard system (SURG). The SURG used in these tests is 25% lighter than the previous design. A 5th percentile hybrid III female dummy was placed in the driver seat and restrained with the 3-point lap and shoulder harness. The anthropometric dummy was instrumented with a head triaxial accelerometer, a chest triaxial accelerometer, a load cell to measure neck force and moment, and a load cell to measure the femur force. The vehicle acceleration was measured using a triaxial accelerometer in the rear center tunnel. High speed, standard video and still photos were taken. In all tests, the intrusion was limited to the front structure of the vehicle without any significant compromise to the occupant space. Results indicate that the resultant head and chest accelerations, head injury criterion, neck force and moment, and femur force were well below the injury tolerance. These findings support the hypothesis that the SURG not only limits/eliminates the intrusion into the occupant space, but also results in biomechanical injury values well below the tolerance limit in motor vehicle crashes.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00678856
• Authors:
  • Kumar, Sri
  • Enz, Bruce
  • Ponder, Perry L
  • Anderson, Bob
• Publication Date: 2009

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 89-94
• Serial:
  • Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation
  • Volume: 45
  • Publisher: Instrument Society of America
  • ISSN: 0067-8856

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Biophysics; Crash injury research; Crash types; Crash victim simulation; Crashes; Dummies; Traffic crashes; Underride guards; Underride override crashes; Vehicle occupants
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01173265
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 16 2010 12:42PM