ABSTRACT
THOR-AV 5F, a modified THOR-5F dummy, was designed to represent both upright and reclined occupants in vehicle crashworthiness studies. The dummy was evaluated in four test conditions: a) 25° seatback, 15 km/h, b) 25° seatback, 32 km/h, c) 45° seatback, 15 km/h, d) 45° seatback, 32 km/h. The dummy's biomechanical responses were compared against those of postmortem human subjects (PMHS) tested in the same test conditions. The latest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) BioRank method was used to provide a biofidelity ranking score (BRS) for each data channel in the tests to assess the dummy's biofidelity objectively. The evaluation was categorized into two groups: restraint system and dummy. In the four test conditions, the restraint system showed good biofidelity with BRS scores of 1.49, 1.47, 1.15, and 1.79, respectively. The THOR-AV 5F demonstrated excellent biofidelity in three test conditions: 25° seatback, 15 km/h (BRS = 0.76); 25° seatback, 32 km/h (BRS = 0.89); and 45° seatback, 32 km/h (BRS = 0.93). In the fourth test condition, 45° seatback, 15 km/h, the dummy demonstrated good biofidelity with a BRS score of 1.06. The dummy demonstrated good durability. No damage was identified with a full inspection conducted after the tests.
ABSTRACT
The Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint (THOR) is an advanced crash test dummy designed for frontal impact. Originally released in a 50th percentile male version (THOR-50M), a female 5th version (THOR-05F) was prototyped in 2017 (Wang et al., 2017) and compared with biofidelity sub-system tests (Wang et al., 2018). The same year, Trosseille et al. (2018) published response corridors using nine 5th percentile female Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) tested in three sled configurations, including both submarining and non-submarining cases. The goal of this paper is to provide an initial evaluation of the THOR-05F biofidelity in a full-scale sled test, by comparing its response with the PMHS corridors published by Trosseille et al. (2018). Significant similarities between PMHS and THOR-05F were observed: as in Trosseille et al. (2018), the THOR-05F did not submarine in configuration 1, and submarined in configurations 2 and 3. The lap belt tension and seat forces were similar in magnitude. For configurations 2 and 3, the pelvis excursions were of the same order of magnitude between both human surrogates. However, significant differences were also observed: compared to the PMHS, the THOR-05F showed shoulder belt forces that were 1.6 to 2.1 times higher in magnitude, and lap belt force time histories that were delayed by 10 to 20 ms. In configuration 1, the chest and pelvis resultant accelerations of the dummy were delayed as well, and the pelvis excursion and rotation more than doubled that of the PMHS.
