Rear-End Impact Assessment expanded with Pre-Impact Posture Variations

Abstract

Present whiplash injury assessment tests, reflecting the seat performance only, provide limited insights into real-world whiplash injury protection needs. Virtual testing of braking followed by a rear-end impact, in addition to alternative initial sitting postures, were conducted to investigate if the current anthropomorphic test device can be used to cover a larger scope of the real-world context. Reconstruction of published 1.1 g braking volunteer tests showed that a BioRID FE model was capable of recreating human-like kinematics; with head and T1 kinematics just within a 1 SD corridor on the low side of the volunteer response, while vertical displacements and lap-belt forces were underpredicted. A simulation series including pre-impact braking prior to rear-end impact investigated two strategies to vary the backset, as well as pre-impact means of intervention, exemplified by pre-impact seatbelt pretensioning. Using virtual testing, the study demonstrates examples of expanding the whiplash assessment test setup, enabling inclusion of a variety of occupant sitting postures and a braking event preceding the rear-end impact, while still being feasible to execute. As a next step, a human body model capable of seamless pre-crash and crash prediction could even allow for more in-depth investigations, as well as inclusion of ranges of occupant sizes and posture setting possibilities