Computation of Hybrid III Head Dynamics in Various Impact Situations

Determining the angular acceleration of the head in automotive safety tests is one of the most important aspects of research on brain tolerance. For this purpose, a methodology combining various software packages and a specific accelerometer device has been developed at LPB-APR. The aim of the present publication is to evaluate this methodology for a variety of test-crash configurations, with or without head impact, i.e. frontal sled tests, steering wheel impacts and drop tests. The key feature of this study is the computing potential made possible by an accelerometer mount designed for the head of the Hybrid III dummy. In particular, the methodology developed allowed high angular acceleration levels to be computed, i.e. more than 15.000 rad/s² in steering wheel impact. To confirm the results, examples of computing-measurement validation are given for each impact situation analyzed.