Status of Injury Biomechanics for the Development of Child Dummies

Ongoing developments in crash safety research, regulations and product enhancements have indicated the need for a review on child dummy design philosophies. Late 1991, the TNO Crash-Safety Research Centre started a research program including a review on child anthropometry, a literature study on biomechanical properties of children and a study on scaling techniques. The objective of this research program is to establish sets of requirements for basic child dummy “design characteristics”. The main design characteristics covered in this paper are anthropometry and biofidelity.

The anthropometry study resulted in a new TNO database on child anthropometry and includes published data on more than 75 parameters. The database's background and construction are explained and the main parameters for child dummy design are presented. The literature study on biomechanical properties of children revealed a limited set of data on material properties. An even more limited set of data on body part responses and tolerance levels was found. Most material properties change strongly during the first years of life. Body part response requirements were found for head, neck, thorax, femur and knee. These are mainly based on scaling of adult (or animal) data. The scaled response requirements seem to concern particular child dummy design rather than general child characteristics. Injury tolerances were found for head, neck, thorax, abdomen and pelvis. These are partly based on scaling and partly on accident reconstructions.