Oblique Lateral Impact Biofidelity Deflection Corridors from Post Mortem Human Surrogates

The objective of the study was to determine the thorax and abdomen deflection-time corridors in oblique side impacts. Data were analyzed from Post Mortem Human Surrogate (PMHS) sled tests, certain aspects of which were previously published. A modular and scalable anthropometry-specific segmented load-wall system was fixed to the platform of the sled. Region-specific forces were recorded from load cells attached to the load-wall plates. The thorax and abdomen regions were instrumented with chestbands, and deflection contours were obtained. Biomechanical responses were processed using the impulse-momentum normalization method and scaled to the mid-size male mass, 76-kg. The individual effective masses of the thorax and abdomen were used to determine the scale factors in each sled test, thus using the response from each experiment. The maximum deflections and their times of attainments were obtained, and mean and plus minus one standard deviation corridors were derived. Test-by-test thorax and abdomen force-time histories are given. Deflection-time histories for each specimen for the two body regions and corridors are presented. The mean maximum deflections for the thorax and abdomen body regions were 68.41 ± 16.1 and 68.98 ± 12.69 mm, respectively. Deflections were greater in oblique than pure lateral loading tests for both body regions, indicating the increased sensitivity of oblique side impact vector to the human response. The mean and one standard deviation responses of the thorax and abdomen serve as biofidelity corridors under oblique loading. Because modern instrumentation techniques can accommodate deflection sensors in the thorax and abdomen in devices such as WorldSID, and computer finite element models are flexible enough to extract regional and local deformation fields, the present data can be used to evaluate dummy biofidelity and validate and verify numerical models. They can be used to advance injury assessment reference values in oblique impacts.