Kane’s method applied to the simulation of a vehicle occupant in side impact

Abstract

For measuring the response of vehicle occupants, dummy models were used to obtain fundamental information about the human body’s ability to withstand the crushing and tearing forces in a crash test. Various numerical dummy models that accurately simulate human response in crash simulations have been developed for research and development purposes. Multi-body dynamics analyses have recently been applied extensively to biodynamic modelling and to studies of the dynamic behaviour of bio-systems. This study presents three-dimensional 15-segment seated human body model and algorithm based on techniques developed in the study of rigid multi-body system dynamics. The dynamic response and injuries assessment of the vehicle occupant in a side impact was discussed. To confirm the accuracy of the proposed human body model and numerical procedure, the current results were compared with experimental data. The results indicate that the numerical method proposed in this study has considerable potential for evaluating a vehicle’s crash safety performance and guiding the future development of safety technologies.