Improved thorax behavior of the EUROSID and effects on thorax injury assessment, on the basis of pendulum impacts 2001-06-0141

In 1989, the EUROSID-1 was accepted in the European regulation ECE-R95. After a steady period of use, an upgraded version of this dummy: ES-2 is now considered as a step towards harmonization of side impact occupant regulations. The upgrades to the dummy include, amongst others, a modification of its torso back plate and a change in rib module guidance (piston-cylinder), especially to overcome anomalous rib deflection responses referred to as ""flat-top.''

Presented here are results of lateral and oblique pendulum tests, conducted on the EUROSID-1 and ES-2 to verify the modified torso back plate and to study the responses of three proposed rib module designs for ES-2. Particularly, rib deflections, rib VC responses, and thorax force-deflection responses are analyzed.

The current study primarily addresses sensitivity of the ES-2 thorax to oblique loading. The risk of anomalous rib deflection responses as observed in full-scale vehicle crash tests can be greatly reduced by using a modified torso back plate and by changing the piston-cylinder. Results presented here show that the prototype ""needle bearing type ribs,'' developed jointly by TNO and FTSS, eliminates the risk of flat-top in the pendulum test conditions employed in this study. The adoption of this rib design in ES-2 may, however, require further tuning of the damping in order to meet biofidelity requirements, such that injury risk on the basis of VC can be assessed appropriately.