Citation

Parent DP, Tyrell D, Perlman B, Matthews P. Transp. Res. Rec. 2005; 1908: 205-213.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In rail passenger seating arrangements with workstation tables, there is a risk of serious thoracic and abdominal injury. Strategies to mitigate this injury risk are being developed through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration and the Rail Safety and Standards Board of the United Kingdom. The approach to developing the protection strategies involves collision investigations, computer simulations of the occupant response, and full-scale testing. During the train collision in Placentia, California, on April 23, 2002, many occupants hit workstation tables. The investigation indicated the likely modes of injury caused by the impact, the most traumatic being damage to the liver and spleen. A MADYMO computer simulation was created to estimate the loads and accelerations imparted on the occupants that brought about these injuries. Two experiments were designed and executed on a full-scale impact test with an occupant environment similar to the Placentia collision. These experiments incorporated advanced anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) with increased abdominal instrumentation. The THOR (test device for human occupant restraint) ATD showed a more humanlike impact response than did the Hybrid III Railway Safety ATD. The full-scale test results are used to refine a MADYMO model of the THOR ATD to evaluate improved workstation tables. The occupant protection strategy that will be developed requires that the table remain rigidly attached to the car body and includes a frangible edge with a force-crush characteristic designed to minimize the abdominal load and compression. MADYMO simulations of this table design show a significantly reduced risk of severe abdominal injury.