A new pedestrian dummy, called ""POLAR'' has
been recently developed. It can be used as a tool not only for the
investigation of the mechanism of pedestrian accidents, but also
for the assessment of vehicle aggressiveness to pedestrians. This
dummy is modified from "'THOR,'' new- generation
occupant dummy, in its body structure to reproduce human body
kinematics in the event of collision with a vehicle more
precisely.
Its knee has a human-like structure, with condyles which shape
is similar to that of human knee, meniscus, cruciate ligaments and
collateral ligaments. Tibias of Polar are made of urethane which
bending characteristic is that of human tibia. These features not
only make the lateral bending and shearing responses of the leg and
knee more human-like but also the whole body kinematics more human-
like.
The dummy is installed with the on-board data acquisition system
(DAS) which allows conducting a full- scale test without any
connection to the ground, which may affect the kinematics of the
dummy. It also makes it possible to measure more data channels and
to assess more kinds of pedestrian injuries.
Certification tests of the leg proved that the bending and
shearing characteristics of the leg were almost in the corridors
derived from PMHS leg impact tests. And full- scale certification
tests indicated that the dummy can well reproduce the kinematics of
a pedestrian in the event of a collision with a vehicle.
Full-scale tests with various shapes of vehicles were conducted.
Kinematics of the dummy and measured values were compared, and the
result proved the possibility of the dummy in assessing the effect
of vehicle shape on pedestrian injuries.