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The biofidelity of the Hybrid III headform in impact is largely dependent on local head geometry and viscoelastic mechanical properties of its polymer skin. Accordingly, for accurate simulation of the ATD headform in computational models, a quantitative understanding of the mechanical properties of skin material is required at a variety of strain rates and strain amplitudes. The objective of this study was to characterize the head skin material of the Hybrid III test dummy for finite deformations and at moderate strain rates for blunt impact simulation using finite element models Head skin material from a single ATD was tested using uniaxial compression. A viscoelastic constitutive model with separable temporal and elastic responses was used to characterize the nonlinear and viscoelastic material behavior.

As accurate measuring of head accelerations is an important aspect in predicting head injury, it is important that the measuring sensor be well-coupled to the head. Various sensors and sensor mounting schemes have been attempted in the past with varying results. This study uses a small, implantable acceleration sensor pack in the ear to study impact coupling with the human skull. The output from these ear-mounted accelerometers is compared to laboratory reference accelerometers rigidly attached to the skull of two cadaveric head specimens for both low-amplitude oscillatory tests and high-amplitude impact drop tests. The combination of sensor type and mounting scheme demonstrates the feasibility of using ear mounted sensors to predict head acceleration response. Previously reported progressive phase lag was not seen in this study, with the comparison between ear mounted accelerometers and rigidly mounted head accelerometers ranging from very good to excellent.

High speed craft are used by civilian agencies and the military for rescue, for interdiction, and for rapid insertion and extraction of forces. Ensign et al. (2000) found evidence of a significant injury problem in a study of self-reported injuries of boat operators of high speed craft. Though repeated vertical spinal impacts with greater than 10 g peak accelerations may occur in such craft, there is currently no completely suitable injury criterion to predict the likelihood of spinal injuries from high speed craft operations. A new low-order dynamics metamodel for predicting vertical impact to the human spine has been developed using a Madymo (TNO, Inc) simulation of a seated occupant under predominantly vertical impact. This model has been validated using experimental high speed craft operations for impacts with vertical accelerations greater than 10 g.

The widespread implementation of air bags has increased the incidence of upper extremity injuries in the automotive crash environment. The first step in reducing these injuries is to determine applicable upper extremity injury criteria. The purpose of this paper is to develop injury risk functions for the fifth percentile female forearm, humerus, wrist, and elbow. Injury tolerance data for each anatomical region were gathered from experiments with controlled impact loading of disarticulated small female cadaver upper extremities. This technique allowed for the applied load to be directly quantified. All data were mass scaled to the fifth percentile female. In order to develop the risk functions, the logit distribution was integrated for the uncensored data, while logistic regression and generalized estimating equations statistical analysis techniques were used for censored data.

Although filter class specifications have been defined for most anthropomorphic test devices, no recommendation exists for the instrumented upper extremity. A three-part study was performed to determine the best channel filter class (CFC) to use for the instrumented upper extremity. By analyzing frequency content of signals from accelerometers and load cells, filtering data through three of the four possible CFC's to compare effects on the signals, and performing an injury comparison between cadaver data and the filtered load cell data, CFC 600 was chosen and recommended as the optimum filter class to use for upper extremity testing.

This paper presents an analysis of the displacement measurement of the Hybrid III 50th percentile male dummy chest in quasistatic and dynamic loading environments. In this dummy, the sternal chest deformation is typically characterized using a sliding chest potentiometer, originally designed to measure inward deflection in the central axis of the dummy chest. Loading environments that include other modes of deformation, such as lateral translations or rotations, can create a displacement vector that is not aligned with this sensitive axis. To demonstrate this, the dummy chest was loaded quasistatically and dynamically in a series of tests. A string potentiometer array, with the capability to monitor additional deflection modes, was used to supplement the measurement of the chest slider.

Curvature-based contour measurement devices with discrete curvature measurement gauges are widely used for the measurement of dynamic thoracic contours in both dummy and cadaveric automobile sled testing. Such devices include the chestband used to determine local thoracic contours at several rib levels for evaluation of injury parameters in dummy and cadaveric subjects. The use of these devices involves integration of local curvatures to obtain position data, and often incorporates several approximations, including a quasi-continuous approximation of discrete measured curvatures. By comparing a reference and a calculated position profile, this study analyzes the error in local positions induced from several sources. The first source of error is the measurement of curvatures at discrete locations, typically with 2.5 - 5.0 cm curvature gauge spacing.