Pressure and load patterns on seat interface:​ a comparison between human subjects and crash test dummies

Shen, Wenqi; Wiklund, Kristina; Frid, Stefan; Swamy, Bala; Nilson, Gert; Humer, Mladen

Affiliations

Abstract

This study compares pressure and load patterns on the seat back generated by humans to those by Hybrid-III dummies in low severity rear impacts. 12 healthy human subjects, along with the fifth percentile female and 50th percentile male Hybrid-HI dummies, were used as test subjects. During the tests, the interface pressure distribution between seat and human or dummy was collected by means of a Tekscan system, at a rate of 50 frames/ sec. The test seat was mounted to a mini-sled, which was powered by a bungy-cord. The bungy-cord accelerated the sled to a speed of about 1.3m/s (5 km/h) when the sled was brought to stop by means of a hydraulic damper. The stopping distance was approximately 30 mm which generated a deceleration pulse of about 3G. The results showed that at impact peaks, total dynamic loading due to human or dummy trunk weight on the seat back increased from static loading. Not only dummy loading increased more than human loading, but also for dummies, a larger portion of load transferred from lower back to upper back region. The dummies' load center in these tests migrated up on seat back more than 50 mm as compared to 20 mm for the humans during impacts. Furthermore, pressure distribution patterns differed significantly between the humans and the dummies. The results of this study will help improve the understanding of injury mechanism due to rear impact and provide fundamental data for dynamic human modeling.

Cited By (5)

Year	Entry
1999	Shen W, Parenteau C, Roychoudhury R, Robbins J. Seated weight distribution of adults and children in normal and non-normal positions. In: 43rd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 20-21, 1999; Barcelon, Spain.383-397.
1999	Ono K, Inami S, Kaneoka K, Gotou T, Kisanuki Y, Sakuma S, Miki K. Relationship between localized spine deformation and cervical vertebral motions for low speed rear impacts using human volunteers. In: Proceedings of the 1999 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 23-24, 1999; Sitges, Spain.149-164.
2000	Ishikawa T, Okano N, Ishikura K, Ono K. An evaluation of prototype seats using BioRID-P3 and Hybrid III with TRLD neck. In: Proceedings of the 2000 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 20-22, 2000; Montpellier, France.379-391.
2003	Ono K, Kaneoka K, Fukushima M, Uwai H, Ujihashi S. Biomechanical response of the head, neck and torso to direct impact on the back of male and female volunteers. In: Proceedings of the 2003 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 25, 2003; Lisbon, Portugal.79-91.
2008	Himmetoglu S. Car Seat Design and Human-Body Modelling for Rear Impact Whiplash Mitigation [PhD thesis]. Loughborough, UK: Loughborough University; 2008.