The design and use of the TRRL side impact dummy

Harris, J.

Affiliations

Abstract

The lack of a suitable means of measuring levels of protection for car occupants in side impacts has hampered development of satisfactory designs of car to withstand impacts of this type by cars or other objects. The TRRL side impact dummy described in the paper has been designed specifically for this task and its use has been demonstrated in achieving a high level of protection for occupants of the Leyland Marina cars developed in the international car safety programme. The dummy makes possible the matching of each part of the energy absorbing inner face of the donor structure to the different loadings on the human frame, which can be safely tolerated at the shoulder, chest and pelvic regions. This paper describes the dummy and some of the testing to ascertain its suitability for impact test procedures, as well as describing how it was used to estimate levels of human tolerance to impact loadings in accidents and how it contributed to the design of the side structure of the modified Marina.

A FORCE MEASURING DUMMY has been developed at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory to assess the injury potential of vehicle structures when struck almost perpendicularly in the side. It has force transducers fitted to measure lateral loadings at locations corresponding to the shoulder joint, four stations on the rib cage, the iliac crest and the hip joint. Accelerometers may be fitted in the headform, upper thorax and pelvis. This paper describes the work which has been done to date on the design and construction of this dummy, its preliminary calibration using real life accident data and its use to develop safer designs of cars.

Links

DOI: 10.4271/760802

SAE: 760802

Cited By (9)

Year	Entry
1976	Melvin JW, Robbins DH, Stalnaker RL. Side impact response and injury. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). October 12-15, 1976; Washington, D.C.681-689.
1976	Wall J, Lowne RW, Harris J. The determination of tolerable loadings for car occupants in impact. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). October 12-15, 1976; Washington, D.C.758-766.
1982	Cesari D, Ramet M, Bouquet R. Tolerance of human pelvis to fracture and proposed pelvic protection criterion to be measured on side impact dummies. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). November 1-4, 1982; Kyoto, Japan.261-269.
1982	Penoyre S. A crashworthiness rating system for cars. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). November 1-4, 1982; Kyoto, Japan.797-809.
1985	Haffner M. Synthesis of pelvic fracture criteria for lateral impact loading. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). July 1-4, 1985; Oxford, England.132-152. SAE 856028.
1985	Neilson L, Lowne R, Tarrière C, Bendjellal F, Gillet D, Maltha J, Cesari D, Bouquet R. The EUROSID side impact dummy. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). July 1-4, 1985; Oxford, England.153-165. SAE 856029.
1985	Penoyre S. An impact test programme using six models of lower-medium-sized cars. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). July 1-4, 1985; Oxford, England.357-362. SAE 856054.
1978	Griffiths DK, Gebbels DR, Mackay GM. Some observations on the reconstruction of a side impact accident. In: Proceedings of the 1978 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 12-13, 1978; Lyon, France.157-170.
1985	Rouhana SW, Lau IV, Ridella SA. Influence of velocity and forced compression on the severity of abdominal injury in blunt, nonpenetrating lateral impact. J Trauma. June 1985;25(6):490-500.