Small Female-Specific Biomechanical Corridors in Side Impacts

Biomechanical response corridors are necessary to evaluate the performance (e.g., biofidelity) of dummies. In side impacts, while corridors are available for the mid-size male, data applicable to the small size female are not reported. Because the small female anthropometry is gaining increasing worldwide attention, this study was undertaken to develop corridors. Sled tests were conducted using post mortem human subjects at a velocity of 6.7 m/s. Three chestbands were used to compute deflection-time histories at the axilla, xyphoid process, and tenth rib levels. Triaxial accelerometers were fixed to the upper and lower spine and sacrum to record acceleration-time histories. Specimens contacted the load wall with varying initial conditions (rigid and padded; flat wall and offset) from which impact forces to the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic regions were obtained using load cell data. Adopting signal processing and mass scaling methods, corridors were derived for forces, accelerations, and chest deflections at three levels for all initial conditions. All time history corridors were expressed as mean plus/minus one standard deviation. Effects of using gender-specific tests for the derivation of corridors are discussed. These results will assist in the assessment of anthropomorphic test devices with small female anthropometry. For the covering abstract see ITRD E141807.