Several studies have provided a valuable assessment of the abdominal responses of mid-sized adult males. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the biomechanical responses of small female occupants when subjected to abdominal loading using post-mortem human subjects (PMHSs) and develop biofidelity targets. A total of nine unembalmed PMHSs, with an average mass and stature of 51+8 kg and 163+9 cm, respectively, were subjected to one of two mid-abdominal loading scenarios: fixed-back belt pull at 4 m/s and rigid bar impact at 6 m/s. The abdominal vasculature was pressurised, and pressure transducers were used in both abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava (IVC). In two of the nine tests, ruptured kidneys and tears in the jejunum, duodenum and splenic capsule were present. The other seven tests resulted in no organ injury. Abdomen biofidelity response targets for fixed-back belt pull and free-back rigid bar loading were created for evaluating and improving the biofidelity of small female-sized surrogates. Various biomechanical variables were calculated and compared to a previously obtained blunt impact and belt loading dataset.
Keywords:
Abdomen; female; belt; rigid bar