Occupant restraint optimisation in frontal crash to mitigate the risk of submarining in out‐of‐position situation

Richard, Olivier; Uriot, Jérôme; Trosseille, Xavier; Sokolowski, Marcin

Affiliations

¹Department of Research and Development, Faurecia Automotive Seating, France

²Department of Biomechanics, CEESAR, France

³LAB PSA Peugeot Citroën Renault, France

Abstract and keywords

Submarining can be described as a slipping of the lap‐belt above the iliac spines of the occupant during frontal crash. This can cause very serious injuries.

The goal of this study is to compare different finite element (FE) simulations performed with a biofidelic THOR dummy in a real seat with similar Post Mortem Human Subject tests. This dummy was obtained by modifying a standard FE THOR model.

In the first stage, two configurations of tests were defined: the first one was to correctly restrain the occupant; and the second was to observe the submarining. Three PMHS tests were performed for each configuration. They are presented in a companion paper (Uriot et al., 2015). For the “non‐submarining” configuration, the occupants were well restrained. For the second configuration, submarining was observed.

In the second stage, to decrease the risk of injury in the “submarining” configuration, a FE study with the biofidelic THOR dummy was performed. The enhanced restraint system was composed of a double lap‐belt pretension and a double lap‐belt load limiter. Three new PMHS tests – presented in the companion paper – were performed. A good correlation level was observed between PMHS and biofidelic THOR dummy test results regarding the risk of submarining.

Keywords: frontal crash, lap belt, PMHS, submarining, THOR

Links

URL: http://ircobi.org/downloads/irc15/pdf_files/19.pdf

Cited Works (6)

Year	Entry
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Cited By (3)

Year	Entry
2019	Richardson R, Donlon JP, Chastain K, Shaw G, Forman J, Sochor S, Jayathirtha M, Kopp K, Overby B, Gepner B, Kerrigan J, Ostling M, Mroz K, Pipkorn B. Test methodology for evaluating the reclined seating environment with human surrogates. In: Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 10-13, 2019; Eindhoven, Netherlands.
2015	Uriot J, Potier P, Baudrit P, Trosseille X, Richard O, Douard R. Comparison of HII, HIII and THOR dummy responses with respect to PMHS sled tests. In: Proceedings of the 2015 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 9-11, 2015; Lyon, France.435-451.
2010	Naseri H. Material Modelling of Adipose Tissue for Traffic Injury Prevention: A Finite Element Study of Parameters Influencing Lap Belt to Pelvis Interaction [PhD thesis]. Götenburg, Sweden: Chalmers University of Technology; April 2010.