Development of a New Finite Element Model for the BioRID II Crash Dummy

The BioRID-II (Biofidelic Rear Impact Dummy) has been developed as a testing tool to measure automotive seat and head restraint system performance in low-speed rear end crashes and to help with understanding of whiplash neck injuries. The present paper focuses on the current Abaqus BioRID-II model which has been developed by Dassault Systemes Simulia Corp. (SIMULIA) in cooperation with the German Association for Research in Automobile Technology FAT, utilizing an extensive suite of material, component and full dummy experiments in the universal Chalmers seat in order to calibrate and validate the model response. The Abaqus BioRID-II model uses connector elements extensively to model complex connections and instrumentation, and to help improve runtime efficiency by reducing the number of degrees of freedom in the model. The assembly process for the actual BioRID-II dummy introduces nontrivial initial deformations and stresses in the critical components of the neck and spine, which must be accounted for in the model itself; the Abaqus BioRID-II model leverages both the explicit and the implicit solution techniques available in the Abaqus product suite to accomplish this. Finally, a comparison between Abaqus simulation results against available experimental test data is included in the paper, suggesting the usefulness of the model in evaluating dummy response and seat performance. Although the responses of most of the variables monitored in the Abaqus dummy are matching well the experimental responses, the authors would like to underline that this paper presents the current development status of this dummy and that there is an ongoing effort to improve its quality.