title: Impacts to the chest of PMHSs - Influence of impact location and load distribution on chest response.
abstract: The chest response of the human body has been studied for several load conditions, but is not well known in the case of steering wheel rim-to-chest impact in heavy goods vehicle frontal collisions. The aim of this study was to determine the response of the human chest in a set of simulated steering wheel impacts. PMHS tests were carried out and analysed. The steering wheel load pattern was represented by a rigid pendulum with a straight bar-shaped front. A crash test dummy chest calibration pendulum was utilised for comparison. In this study, a set of rigid bar impacts were directed at various heights of the chest, spanning approximately 120mm around the fourth intercostal space. The impact energy was set below a level estimated to cause rib fracture. The analysed results consist of responses, evaluated with respect to differences in the impacting shape and impact heights on compression and viscous criteria chest injury responses. The results showed that the bar impacts consistently produced lesser scaled chest compressions than the hub; the Middle bar responses were around 90% of the hub responses. A superior bar impact provided lesser chest compression; the average response was 86% of the Middle bar response. For inferior bar impacts, the chest compression response was 116% of the chest compression in the middle. The damping properties of the chest caused the compression to decrease in the high speed bar impacts to 88% of that in low speed impacts. From the analysis it could be concluded that the bar impact shape provides lower chest criteria responses compared to the hub. Further, the bar responses are dependent on the impact location of the chest. Inertial and viscous effects of the upper body affect the responses. The results can be used to assess the responses of human substitutes such as anthropomorphic test devices and finite element human body models, which will benefit the development process of heavy goods vehicle safety systems.
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Mechanics, Vehicle Safety Division and SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: kristian.holmqvist@chalmers.se.
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Holmqvist
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Mechanics, Vehicle Safety Division and SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: mats.svensson@chalmers.se.
authors.forename: Mats Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Mechanics, Vehicle Safety Division and SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: johan.davidsson@chalmers.se.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davidsson
authors.affiliation: Vehicle Safety Institute, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 23/I, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: andreas.gutsche@tugraz.at.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutsche
authors.affiliation: Vehicle Safety Institute, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 23/I, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: ernst.tomasch@tugraz.at.
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tomasch
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University Graz, Universitätsplatz 4/II, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: mario.darok@medunigraz.at.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Darok
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, University of Ljubljana, Kongresni trg 12, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: dean.ravnik@mf.uni-lj.si.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ravnik
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D019245:Compressive Strength; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D012253:Rib Fractures / Q000209:etiology*; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D016474:Weight-Bearing; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000209:etiology*
keywords: Chest; PMHS; Pendulum; Response; Steering wheel; Truck