Citation

Li Z, Zhang W, Kapoor T, Altenhof W. Int. J. Crashworthiness 2011; 16(4): 457-467.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13588265.2011.606998

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The majority of child crash analyses have been evaluated using child dummies. Due to structural simplifications in modelling human anatomy in crash testing dummies, the predictive capabilities of dummies for injuries are limited. In previous studies, a three-year-old human child model was modified by implementing the child neck biomechanical behaviour. The altered biofidelity of the cervical spine was validated with paediatric cadaver head/neck tests reported in the literature. This study focuses on the crash evaluation of the modified three-year-old human child model, by comparing kinematic and biomechanical responses to those of the unmodified human child model and the Q3s dummy model in simulated side impacts. Four different restraint conditions, namely near-side, far-side, near-side misuse (without top tether) and far-side misuse, were selected for comparison in terms of the Head Injury Criteria, head acceleration, head excursion, head contact force, neck force and chest acceleration, under a forward-facing configuration.