Citation

Nie B, Poulard D, Subit D, Donlon JP, Forman JL, Kent RW. Traffic Injury Prev. 2016; 17(4): 374-380.

Affiliation

University of Virginia, Center for Applied Biomechanics , 4040 Lewis and Clark Drive, Charlottesville , 22911 United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15389588.2015.1088944

PMID

26376046

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of the occupant characteristics on seatbelt force vs. payout behaviour based on experiment data from different configurations in frontal impacts.

METHODS: The dataset reviewed consists of fifty-eight frontal sled tests using several anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) and post-mortem human subjects (PMHS), restrained by different belt systems (standard belt, SB; force-limiting belt, FLB) at two impact severities (48 km/h and 29 km/h). The seatbelt behavior was characterized in term of the shoulder belt force vs. belt payout behavior. A univariate linear regression was used to assess the factor significance of the occupant body mass or stature on the peak tension force and gross belt payout.

RESULTS: With the SB, the seatbelt behavior obtained by the ATDs exhibited similar force slopes regardless of the occupant size and impact severities, while those obtained by the PMHS were varied. Under the 48 km/h impact, the peak tension force and gross belt payout obtained by ATDs was highly correlated to the occupant stature (p = 0.03, p = 0.02) and body mass (p = 0.05, p = 0.04), while no statistical difference with the stature or body mass were noticed for PMHS (peak force: p = 0.09, p = 0.42; gross payout: p = 0.40, p = 0.48). With the FLB under the 48 km/h impact, highly linear relationships were noticed between the occupant body mass and the peak tension force (R(2) = 0.9782) and between the gross payout and the stature (R(2) = 0.9232) regardless of the occupant types.

CONCLUSIONS: The analysis indicated that the PMHS characteristics showed significant influence on the belt response, while the belt response obtained with the ATDs were more reproducible. The potentialcause included the occupant anthropometry, the body mass distribution and the relative motion among body segments specific to the population variance. This study provided a primary data source to understand the biomechanical interaction of the occupant with the restraint system. Further research is necessary to consider these effects in the computational studies and optimized design of the restraint system in a more realistic manner.

Language: en