Foundations and elements of the NHTSA Thor ALPHA ATD design

Haffner, M.; Eppinger, R.; Rangarajan, N.; Shams, T.; Artis, M.; Beach, D.

Affiliations

¹National Highway Traffic Safety Adminsitration, U.S. Department of Transportation, USA

Abstract

Early influences upon Thor ATD development are described, and the path of Thor development is traced up to the release of the current Thor ALPHA ATD design. Since the display of the first Thor ATD prototype at the 15th ESV COnference in Melbourne in 1996, Thor has undergone extensive test and evaluation on an international basis in cooperation with many partner institutions. This paper summarizes some of the lessons learned from this broad test experience, and documents actions which have been undertaken to upgrade the Thor product ALPHA status in light of this experience.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-01/Esv/esv17/Proceed/00107.pdf

Cited By (31)

Year	Entry
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2003	Huang TJ, Shams T, Rangarajan N, Haffner M, Eppinger R. Development of an advanced 50th percentile male head/neck system for application to crash test dummies. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
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2002	Ono K, Kaneoka K, Hattori S, Ujihashi S, Takhounts EG, Haffner M, Eppinger RH. Cervical vertebral motions and biomechanical responses to direct loading of human head. In: Proceedings of the 2002 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 18-20, 2002; Munich, Germany.
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2003	McDonald JP, Shams T, Rangarajan N, Beach D, Huang T-J, Freemire J, Artis M, Wang Y, Haffner M. Design and development of a THOR-based small female crash test dummy. Stapp Car Crash J. 2003;47:551-570. SAE 2003-22-0024.
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2014	Mendoza Vázquez M. Thoracic Injuries in Frontal Car Crashes: Risk Assessment Using a Finite Element Human Body Model [PhD thesis]. Gothenburg, Sweden: Chalmers University of Technology; 2014.
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