Change of velocity and pulse characteristics in rear impacts: real world and vehicle tests data

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Linder, Astrid¹; Avery, Matthew¹; Krafft, Maria¹; Kullgren, Anders¹

Change of velocity and pulse characteristics in rear impacts: real world and vehicle tests data

Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)

Affiliations

¹The Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre, Thatcham, United Kingdom

²Folksam Research, Sweden
Abstract

Impact severity in collisions that can cause soft tissue neck injuries are most commonly specified in terms of change of velocity. However, it has been shown from real-world collisions that mean acceleration influences the risk of these injuries. For a given change of velocity this means an increased risk for shorter duration of the crash pulse. Furthermore, dummy response in crash tests has shown to vary depending on the duration of the crash pulse for a given change of velocity. The range of duration for change of velocities suggested for sled tests that evaluate the protection of the seat from soft tissue neck injuries are still to be established. The aim of this study was to quantify the variation of duration of the crash pulse for vehicles impacted from the rear at change of velocities suggested in test methods that evaluate the protection from soft tissue neck injuries. Crash pulses from the same vehicle models from different generations in real-world collisions producing a similar change of velocity were also analysed.

The results from the crash tests show that similar changes of velocity can be generated with various durations of crash pulses for a given change of velocity in rear impacts. The results from real-world collisions showed that a similar change of velocity was generated with various durations and shapes of crash pulses for the same vehicle model.

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2012	Locey CM, Garcia-Espana JF, Toh A, Belwadi A, Arbogast KB, Maltese MR. Homogenization of vehicle fleet frontal crash pulses from 2000-2010. In: 56th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 14-17, 2012; Seattle, WA.299-311.
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2016	Jordan B, Schmitt KU, Bützer D, Zahnd B. Analysis of whiplash associated disorder claims using real‐world data retrieved from event data recorders: a case‐control study. In: Proceedings of the 2016 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 14-16, 2016; Malaga, Spain.89-100.
2024	Kang Y-S, DeWitt T, Marcallini A, Song J, Jung YH, Lee DG, Harm JJ, Ko S, Kim HJ, Hunter R, Baker G, Agnew AM. Responses and injuries of male post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) seated in an unreinforced production seat in rear-facing frontal impacts. In: Proceedings of the 2024 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 11-13, 2024; Stockholm, Sweden.161-193.
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2023	Soltan Mohammadzadeh N. Cervical Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure in an in-Vivo Porcine Model of Simulated Whiplash Loading [Master's thesis]. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia; July 2023.