Citation

Kerrigan J, Kam C, Drinkwater C, Murphy D, Bose D, Ivarsson J, Crandall JR. Proc. IRCOBI 2005; 33: 16p.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A primary function of pedestrian dummies is the biofidelic representation of whole-body kinematics. To assess the biofidelity of a pedestrian dummy, the kinematic response of post-mortem human surrogates (PMHS) tested in full-scale pedestrian impact tests was compared with the kinematic response of the Polar-II dummy. Two PMHS were tested in full-scale pedestrian impact tests using a late-model sport-utility vehicle with an impact velocity of 40km/h. Three additional tests using the Polar-II dummy were conducted in identical conditions to those used in the PMHS tests. Using photo targets mounted at the equivalent locations of the head centre of gravity, top of the thorax, thorax centre of gravity, and pelvis centre of gravity, the kinematic response of the pedestrian surrogates was evaluated by comparing their parametric trajectory data. Given the significance of head impact for pedestrian injury outcome, head velocity-time signals were also compared. To provide insight into the effect of exterior vehicle geometry, the kinematics response of the Polar-II and PMHS tested using a late model small sedan were also compared with the dummy and PMHS response from the SUV tests. Comparing dummy and PMHS response, the Polar-II generally replicated the complex kinematics of the PMHS and demonstrated good overall biofidelity.