CRASH VISUALIZATION USING REAL-WORLD ACCELERATION DATA

Vehicle crash-event data recorders associated with inflatable occupant restraint systems, Mayday systems, and Automatic Crash Notification systems are rapidly becoming more common and more sophisticated. If such devices are equipped with integral accelerometers, it is possible to input the actual vehicle acceleration-time history recorded during the crash to a suitable occupant dynamics computer analysis to simulate near real-time in-cabin occupant response to the roadway incident. This paper describes how the Articulated Total Body computer code was utilized for this purpose. Real-world acceleration-data inputs to the code were obtained from the Automatic Crash Notification Field Operational Test program recently completed by Veridian Engineering for the U.S. Department of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The simulations provided animated video imagery depicting virtual-occupant motion and secondary impacts in the cabin for several collisions selected from that program. Preliminary indications are that such forecasted visual information would have potential value in activities such as planning ground and air ambulance transport, preparing Emergency Medical Service personnel prior to their arrival at the crash scene, aiding destination decisions, and alerting emergency medical personnel regarding injury type and severity.