Title: Vehicle occupant response to rear-end impacts

Authors: Shyh-Chour Huang, Jiann-Yuan Chu, Chih-Han Chang

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Kaohsiung Institute of Technology, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan. ' Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan. ' Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan

Abstract: The objective of this study is to simulate the dynamic response of the human body within a rear-end impacted vehicle. The earlier biodynamic computer model, Supercrash, is modified to perform the analysis. The results show that, at a constant impact velocity, the relative rotation angle of an occupant's head to chest decreased with an increase of initial seatback angle. Furthermore, at a constant seatback angle, the maximum acceleration values of head and chest increased with the increase of impact velocity.

Keywords: human body model; multibody systems; rear-end impacts; vehicle crashes; car accidents; biodynamics; impact velocity; occupant response.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2000.005182

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2000 Vol.24 No.2/3, pp.198 - 210

Published online: 09 Sep 2004 *

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