Seat test standard protocols have been established by insurance research institutes and consumer test organisations are developing similar test procedures to assess the performance of seats under rear-impact crash conditions.

With several numerical simulation models of the BioRID II being commercially available this study is intended to validate a multi-body rear-impact dummy model in a neutral seat environment for a range of seating postures and impact severities. This enables the systematic investigation of those parameters of the seat which influence the biomechanical loading on the dummy.

For this purpose, five dynamic tests were conducted on a newly developed test device that employs a stationary carriage with the seat and dummy and is accelerated from the rear by a sled-on-carriage impactor system. The BioRID dummy was placed on the so-called Chalmers seat which was utilized in earlier EU co-funded research projects and provides several adjustment possibilities to represent different seat shapes and characteristics. Starting with a medium severity crash pulse four additional validation tests were carried out with lower and higher crash severity as well as different seat and seating positions to cover a broader range of conditions.

Modelling involved both the detailed measuring and computational representation of the Chalmers seat as a multi-body model with facet surfaces as well as careful documentation of the placement of the BioRID model on the seat.

Based on the comparison of the model response with the kinematics and biomechanical measurements from the basic test an acceptable conformity between numerical model and validation test could be found for most body regions. However, some shortcomings in the dummy model were identified.