IRC-14-40 IRCOBI Conference 2014

EffectsofVariationsinBeltGeometry,DoublePretensioningandAdaptive
LoadLimitingonAdvancedChestMeasurementsofTHORandHybridIII

AndreEggers,BurkhardEickhoff,JanDobberstein,HaraldZellmer,ThorstenAdolph

Abstract
ThesensitivityofthoraxdeflectionoftheTHORandHybridIIIwasevaluatedinsledtests.THORwasequipped
with3DIR Traccsandstraingaugesontheribs,theHybridIIIwithmultipointdeflection measurement.The
sensitivity regarding changes of restraint parameter like Dring position, pretensioning and belt load limiting
wasinvestigated.
As an outcome, the regions with maximum deflection are similar for both dummies under same loading
conditions.ReducedmidsternumdeflectionoftheHybridIIIwithabeltpathclosetotheneckismeasured.In
contrast, the maximum deflection difference of the Hybrid III is higher compared to lower belt routings. The
THORthoraxshowshigherdifferencesindeformationbyvariationofthebeltpath.
DoublepretensioningreducesthedeflectionofbothdummiesbeinghigherforTHOR.Anincreasedreduction
isfoundinthelowerchestareawithHybridIII.THORshowsthehighestdifferencesintheupperarea.Finally,a
stepdownofbeltforceleadstoacomparablerelaxationofbothdummies.
Inconclusion,theupdatedTHORismoresensitivetochangesinrestraintparameterscomparedtoHybridIII
showingpotentialforcapturingamoredetailedthoraxresponseinordertodevelopinjurycriteria.

Keywords:Chestdeflection,HybridIII,sledtests,thorax,THOR

I. INTRODUCTION
The number of road fatalities continues to decline due to improvements in vehicle safety technology.
However, data from the European Road Safety Observatory indicates that in 2010 still around 31,000 people
were killed and more than 1.4 million injured in European road accidents [1]. Due to these figures a further
improvementofvehiclesafetyisdesirable.
Caroccupantsshowahighriskofbeinginjured,especiallyinfrontalimpacts[2].Inthisaccidentconfiguration
thethoraxisthebodyregionathighestrisk,asshowninseveralstudiesbasedonaccidentdataanalysis,suchas
[3].Carrolletal.[4]didananalysiswithindepthaccidentdataofoccupantinjuriesinfrontalimpactsinvehicles
manufacturedafter2000.TheyfoundthatribfractureshavethehighestshareofAIS3+injures.
Toaddressthisissuebydevelopmentofimprovedvehicletechnologyincludingadvancedrestraintsystems,a
frontalimpactdummywithamorebiofidelicthoraxandappropriatemeasurementcapabilityisneeded.Forthis
purpose,withintheEUprojectTHORAXathoraxdemonstratorwithimprovedchestandshoulderdesignwas
developedandimplementedintheTHORdummy[56].
Toassesswhetherthisnewchestenablesthedevelopmentofimprovedrestraintsystems,itisimportantto
investigatethesensitivityofthedummychestmeasurementstorestraintsystemparameterslikeadaptiveload
limiterorpretensionerconcepts.InotherstudiestherestraintsystemsensitivityoftheHybridIIIwasalready
investigated [710]. Previous versions of the THOR dummy were also tested regarding restraint system
sensitivity[1112].However,thenewdummychestdevolvedintheTHORAXprojecthasnotyetbeenevaluated
inthisrespect.
Therefore,theobjectiveofthisstudywastoinvestigatethesensitivityofthenewdummychesttochangesin
belt system parameters and furthermore to compare the results to Hybrid III chest measurements including
multipointchestdeflections.

II. METHODS
ToinvestigatetherestraintsystemsensitivityofthedummiesHybridIIIandTHOR,aseriesofsledtestswas
doneinagenericenvironmentrepresentingadriverposition.Avariationofthreebeltsystemparameterswas
donetoinvestigatetheeffectonchestmeasurementsinthedummies.



A. Eggers is researcher at the Federal Highway Research Institute, BASt, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. (tel: +49 2204 43 656, fax: +49 2204 43 687,
email: eggers@bast.de). J. Dobberstein and T. Adolph are also researchers at BASt. B. Eickhoff is Team Leader, System Engineering, H. Zellmer is
Manager, Virtual Engineering & System, both at Autoliv B.V. & Co. KG, Elmshorn, Germany.

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Testrig
Thegenerictestrigwasdevelopedtorepresentadriverpositioninanaveragevehicleenvironment.Itwas
based on a test setup used in previous studies with the Hybrid III [10] [13]. The sled setup with the THOR
dummy is shown in Figure 1. A production seat cushion with deformable seat pan of a compact class vehicle
wasused;itwaschangedaftereachtest.Theseatbackwasrigidandcoveredwithfoam.Aproductionsteering
wheelwithairbagwasmountedtoarigidsteeringcolumn.Thesteeringwheelwaschangedaftereachtest.
Thebeltrestraintsystemconsistedofaproduction3pointseatbeltwithretractorpretensioner,whichwas
fired in all tests. In some tests also an anchor plate pretensioner was used. A constant retractor load limiter
(about4kNshoulderbeltload)oranadaptiveshoulderbeltloadlimiterwithastepdownfromabout4.5kNto
2.5 kN shoulder belt load was used. All belt attachment points were adjustable to investigate different belt
geometries.

Figure1.TestrigwithTHORdummy

Dummypositioning
ForpositioningofthedummyareferenceHpointwasdeterminedwiththeSAEHpointmanikin.HybridIIIas
well as THOR were placed as close aspossible to the reference Hpoint. Due to the different anthropometric
dimension of the dummy this resulted in different distances relative to the steering wheel and different leg
positionsasshowninFigure2andFigure3.SomecharacteristicmeasurementsareprovidedinTable1.Both
dummieswereadjustedtoapelvisangleof21.5(+/1).

Figure2.PositioningmeasurementsofHybridIII Figure3.PositioningmeasurementsofTHOR

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Table1.Dummypositioningmeasurements
Measurementsinmm(Tolerance+/10mm) HybridIII THOR
DistancechintotopofRim A 465 545
ChesttoStWcenter(horizontal) B 360 420
Stomachtorim(horizontal) C 265 280
HPtoKneejoint(xdistance) D 390 415

DummyInstrumentation
AHybridIIIdummywithstandardinstrumentationwasused.Additionally,thechestwasinstrumentedwith
themultipointdeflectionmeasurementsystemRibEye.ThelocationoftheLEDstomeasurethedeflectionof
theribsisshowninFigure4andFigure5.
TheTHORdummyusedforthisstudywasoriginallyaTHORNT.Itwasupgradedwiththemodkitincluding
pelvis, femur and knee. Furthermore, the new thorax and shoulder design of the EUproject THORAX was
implemented.ThisconsistedoftheSD3shoulder,anewsetofribs,whichweretunedforimprovedbiofidelity,
four 3DIRTraccs (see Figure 6) and 72 strain gauges, 6 on each rib left and right (Figure 7). For a detailed
descriptionofthedummyupdatesderivedfromtheTHORAXproject,see[5][6].

Figure 4. Positioning of Figure5.Locationof12 Figure 6. SD3 shoulder Figure 7. Ribs 2 to 7
the RibEye LEDs on the RibEyeLEDs and four 3DIRTraccs in each equipped with 6
ribsintheHybridIII theupdatedTHORchest straingagesleftandright

ParametertuninginBaselineConfiguration
A Euro NCAP pulse representative for an average midsize vehicle was selected from a pulse database. The
pulsewasrecordedinafullscalecrashtest.ThepulseisshowninFigure8.
Severaltuningtestswereperformedwiththeobjectivetohaveabaselineconfigurationwhichshowsaverage
performance dummy assessment values with the Hybrid III dummy. During the tuning of the system, trigger
timesoftherestraintsystemwereadjusted(retractorpretensionerandairbag)andthelocationoftheshoulder
beltattachmentpointwasset.Thedriverairbagusedinthistestserieswascomparablysoft,resultinginabelt
dominated restraint system. This enables an investigation focusing on belt parameters. The Hybrid III injury
valuesofthebaselinetestaftertuningisshowninTable2.

Table 2. Hybrid III injury values in the baseline
testconfiguration
HIC36 273
HeadAccelerationResultanting 49
Heada3mscumulativeing 48
NeckShearForceFx+inkN 0,2
NeckShearForceFxinkN 0.5
NeckTensileForceFz+inkN 0.6
NeckExtensionMyinNm 6.8
ChestDeflectioninmm 24
VCmaxinm/s 0.05
ChestAccelerationResultanting 38
FemurLeftForceFzinkN 0.6
Figure8.64km/hODBEuroNCAPcrashpulse FemurRightForceFzinkN 0.4

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Testparameters
ThebaselinetestconfigurationwasdonewithHybridIIIandTHOR.Thefollowingthreebeltparameterswere
changedintestswithbothdummiesandcomparedtothebaselinetests:
1.) Beltgeometry
2.) Doublepretensioning(retractorandanchor)
3.) Adaptiveloadlimiter(4.5kNto2.5kNshoulderbeltload)

1. Beltgeometry
The sensitivity of THOR and Hybrid III to belt routing variations was investigated for two different belt
routingsonthedummychestbymodifyingthelocationoftheupperbeltattachmentpointasshowninFigure
9. The resulting belt routing on the THOR dummy is shown in Figure 10 and Figure 11. In belt routing
configurationA,whichwasdefinedasbaselinebeltroutingvariation,thebeltpathishigheronthechest,closer
totheneckandmoreinboardontheshoulder.Theshortestdistancebetweenneckandwebbingwas75mmin
this configuration. This belt routing is also used in all other tests presented here. Moving the upper Dring
anchoragepointdownby90mmresultedinbeltroutingBshowninFigure11.Thebeltpathisloweronthe
chest(shortestdistancebetweenneckandwebbing100mm)andmoreoutboardontheshoulder.Thedistance
totheneckishigher.

Figure 9. Upper belt anchorage of belt Figure10.BeltroutingA Figure11.BeltroutingB

routingAvs.B

2. Pretensioning
AnanchorplatepretensionerwasaddedtoinvestigatetheeffectofdoublepretensioningonTHORcompared
toHybridIII.ThebeltroutingAwasusedandtheretractorpretensionerwasfiredasinthebaselinetests.The
anchorplatepretensionerwasfiredwithadelayof7msaftertheretractorpretensioner.

Table3.Overviewoftests,baselinetestsgiveninitalic
Belt TTF TTF TTFLoad TTF
Dummy PPT Loadlimiter
routing Retractor Anchor limiter Airbag
HybridIII A Single Constant 22ms 28ms
THOR A Single Constant 22ms 28ms
HybridIII B Single Constant 22ms 28ms
THOR B Single Constant 22ms 28ms
HybridIII A Double Constant 22ms 29ms 28ms
THOR A Double Constant 22ms 29ms 28ms
HybridIII A Single Adaptive 22ms 95ms 28ms
THOR A Single Adaptive 22ms 95ms 28ms

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3. Adaptiveloadlimiter
Toinvestigatetheeffectofanadaptiveloadlimiter,theshoulderbeltloadwasreducedbyanadaptiveload
limiterfromabout4.5kNto2.5kNattheshoulder.ForthesetestsalsothebeltroutingAwasusedasinthe
baselinetests.
An overview of all tests considered here is given in Table 3. The table also provides the trigger times of
pretensioner(retractorandanchor),adaptiveloadlimiterandairbag.

III. RESULTS
The results of the investigated parameters including belt geometry, pretensioning (single vs. double) and
adaptive load limiting are shown and compared to the results of the baseline configuration (belt routing A,
singlepretensioner,constantloadlimiter).

1. Beltgeometryvariation
Figure12andFigure13showtheHybridIIIdeflectionmeasurementsforthebeltgeometriesAandB.The
maximum multipoint measurements are higher than the deflection measured with the chest pot. The
measurementsindicatethehighestdeflectionintheupperrightquadrantofthechestforbothbeltgeometries.
Thehighestdeflectioncanbeobservedatthe1strightribat90mmfromthesternummidline.Thedeflection
measured close to the sternum is slightly lower. The multipoint measurements show an asymmetric
distributionofthedeflectiononthechestwithahighdifferencebetweenthecorrespondingpointsontheright
andleftsideoftheribcage.Thehighestdifferencebetweenleftandrightcanbeobservedonthe5thriblevel
forthesetests.

Figure12.HybridIIIRibEyexdeflectionsbeltroutingA

Figure13.HybridIIIRibEyexdeflectionsbeltroutingB

Figure14summarizesthecharacteristicindicatorsderivedfromthemultipointmeasurementsintheHybrid
III chest comparing the belt routings A and B. The maximum deflection measured with the standard chest
potentiometerisalsoprovided.
Comparing the belt geometries by the chest pot readings, the higher belt routing A results in a lower mid
sternumdeflection.Incontrast,thepeakRibEyedeflectiondoesnotshowahighvariationbetweenthetwobelt
geometries.However,theasymmetryofchestdeflectionexpressedbythedifferencebetweencorresponding
leftandrightribsshowsacleardecreaseforbeltroutingBcomparedtoroutingA.

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Figure14.HybridIIIchestdeflectionsforbeltroutingAvs.B

Figure15showsacomparisonofTHORIRTraccreadingsforbeltroutingAvs.B.Ingeneral,thedeflections
measured with THOR are higher than the Hybrid III chest deflections. For the higher belt path on the chest
(routing A) the upper right quadrant shows the highest readings. This is in line with the observations in the
HybridIIIdummy.However,forthelowerbeltpath(B)theIRTraccdeflectionsinthelowerrightquadrantare
higher,whichisincontrasttothemultipointmeasurementsintheHybridIIIdummy.Inthelowerleftquadrant
theHybridIIImeasuresthelowestdeflection,THORshowsevenreversedeflectionindicatingbulgingoutofthe
ribs. THOR deflection measurements also indicate an asymmetric chest deformation. The highest deflections
areoccurringattherighthalfofthechest,whichisinlinewiththeobservationsoftheHybridIIImultipoint
measurements.
Figure 16 shows the strain measurements of the THOR dummy for the two belt routings. A qualitative
comparison suggests a similar sensitivity of the strains measured on rib 2 and rib 5 as the IRTracc
measurements.BothIRTraccmeasurementsaswellasstrainmeasurementsindicatethesamechestquadrant
with the maximum loading, which is the upper right for high belt routing A, the lower right quadrant for the
lowerbeltroutingB.However,thestrainmeasurementsatthe6thribprovideadditionalinformationwhichis
differenttotheIRTraccmeasurement.Atthe6thribthestrainshowsavalueforbeltroutingB,whichiseven
higherthanthestrainobservedatthe1stribforbeltroutingA.

Figure15.IRTraccxdeflectionintheTHORdummy;BeltroutingAvs.B

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Figure16.Peakribstraininmillistrain;beltroutingAvs.B

2. Singlevs.Doublepretensioning
Figure 17 shows key values calculated based on Hybrid III deflection measurement comparing single and
doublepretensioning.Alldeflectionbasedvalueslikechestpotmeasurement,maximumRibEyedeflectionas
wellastheleftrightdifferencearereducedbydoublepretensioningcomparedtothebaselinetestwithsingle
pretensioning.Figure18showsasimilarreductionofIRTraccdeflectionvaluesintheTHORdummy.Maximum
deflectionaswellasasymmetricchestdeformationisreducedinthetestwithdoublepretensioning.

Figure17.HybridIIIchestdeflectionsforsingleanddoublepretensioning

Figure18.IRTraccxdeflectionintheTHORdummyforsingleanddoublepretensioning

Figure19andFigure20showthetimehistoryofbeltforcesmeasuredatthediagonalbeltbetweenshoulder
andDringandthebeltforceattheoutboardanchoragepoint.AcleardifferenceinbeltforcesbetweenHybrid
IIIandTHORcanbeobserved.TheshoulderbeltforceshowsafasterincreasefortheHybridIIIcomparedto
THORindicatingabettercouplingofthebelttothedummy.Thedoublepretensioningcanbeseenclearlyinthe
Hybrid III shoulder belt force by an increase in force at about 30 ms whereas in the THOR this is not as
prominent.

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ThelapbeltforceinTHORrisesslower.Thelapbeltforceshowsaclearforcepeakduetotheanchorplate
pretensioner in the Hybrid III whereas a lower force peak due to anchor pretensioning can be seen for the
THOR.However,thedifferentincreaseoflapbeltforceduetoanchorpretensioningcanalsobeclearlyseenin
theTHOR.

Figure19.UppershoulderbeltforceFB3 Figure20.BeltforceatoutboardanchorFB6

Chest and pelvis accelerations for the tests with single and double pretension are shown in Figure 21 and
Figure22.Bothaccelerationreadingsshowaclearpeakduetotheanchorplatepretensioner.However,only
the maximum accelerations in the Hybrid III show a clear reduction for double pretension, whereas the
maximumchestaccelerationinTHORonlyshowsasmallreductionandthepeakpelvisaccelerationdoesnot
showanynoticeabledifferencebetweenthetwopretensioningvariations.

Figure21.Chestacceleration Figure22.Pelvisacceleration
3. Adaptiveloadlimiter
Toinvestigatetheeffectofastepdowninshoulderbeltload,anadaptiveloadlimiterwasactivatedat95ms
reducingtheshoulderbeltloadfromabout4.5kNtoalowerlevelofabout2.5kNattheshoulderasshownin
Figure23fortheTHORdummyasanexample.

Figure23.UppershoulderbeltforcesFB3,constantvs.adaptiveloadlimiter

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InFigure24HybridIIIdeflectionbasedvaluesareshownfortheconstantvs.theadaptiveloadlimiter.The
chest potentiometer as well as the multipoint deflection measurement shows a reduction of its maximum
valuesfortheadaptiveloadlimiter.InFigure25asimilartendencyisshownbytheIRTraccdeflectionvaluesin
theTHORdummy.ThemaximumIRTraccvaluesaswellasasymmetricchestdeformationarereducedinthe
testwiththeadaptiveloadlimiter.

Figure24.HybridIIIchestdeflectionsforconstantandadaptiveloadlimiter

Figure25.THORIRTraccxdeflectionsforconstantandadaptiveloadlimiter

Figure26andFigure27showdeflectiontimehistoryplotsofthemultipointmeasurementsintheHybridIII.
InFigure27theeffectofthestepdowninshoulderbeltloadonthechestdeflectioncanbeseen.Theadaptive
loadlimiterreducesthemaximumdeflectionpeaksatallribs,withthemostpronouncedreductionatthe1st
rightrib.Thedeflectiontimehistoryshowsasimilarshapeforallribs.Thetimingofthedecreaseindeflection
correspondstothebeltforce,showinganimmediateeffectwithonlyverysmalldelayof2msto3ms.Afterthis
reductiontheribdeflectionincreasesagainandreachesitsmaximumpeak,whichishigherthanthefirstpeak
beforethestepdowninbeltforce.

Figure 26. Hybrid III multipoint deflections, Figure 27. Hybrid III multipoint deflections,
constantloadlimiter adaptiveloadlimiter,2ndstageat95ms

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InFigure28andFigure29timehistoryplotsofthedeflectionmeasuredbytheIRTraccsareshown.Thestep
downinbeltforceshowsaclearlyvisiblereductionindeflectionattheupperrightandalsotheupperleftIR
Tracc.However,incontrasttotheHybridIIIthedeflectionmeasuredattheupperrightsensorthesensoron
whichthetotalmaximumindeflectionoccursdoesnotincreaseagainafterthestepdowninbeltforce.The
timehistoryplotsoftheIRTraccsdonotshowasimilarshapeasobservedintheHybridIIItests.Atimedelay
of2msto3msbetweenforceanddeflectioncanalsobenoticedwiththeTHORdummy.

Figure 28. THOR IRTracc xdeflection, constant Figure29.THORIRTraccxdeflection,adaptiveload

loadlimiter limiter,2ndstageat95ms

IV. DISCUSSION
Theinfluenceofthebeltsystemparametersbeltrouting,doublepretensioningandadaptiveloadlimitation
onchestmeasurementsinHybridIIIandTHORwasinvestigated.Allmeasurementsshowasensitivityregarding
theseparameters.
ThemidsternaldeflectionintheHybridIIImeasuredbytherotationalpotentiometershowsanincreasefora
lowerbeltpathonthechest.Thisisinagreementwithobservationsinotherstudies([89][13]).Fortheupper
belt path, the RibEye maximum deflection is higher than the deflection measured by the chest pot. For the
lowerbeltpaththemaximumchestpotdeflectionincreasesbuttheonemeasuredbyRibEyestaysalmostthe
same.ThisresultisinlinewithpreviousobservationsinotherstudieswiththeRibEyesystem[10][13].Itcanbe
noticedthatthemultipointmeasurementsystemintheHybridIIIisbetterabletocapturetherealmaximum
chestdeflectionthanthechestpotentiometer.TheIRTraccmultipointmeasurementsinTHORalsoshowthe
tendencytoindicateahigherpeakdeflectionforahigherbeltpath.Furthermoretheleftrightdifferenceasan
indicator for asymmetric chest deformation due to belt loading is reduced for the lower belt path in both
dummies.FortheHybridIIIthishasalsobeenshowninpreviousstudies([9][13]).
Forthelowerbeltpaththemultipointsystemsinbothdummiesindicatethelowerrightquadrantastheone
withthehighestdeflection.Furthermore,bothsystemsindicatethatthepeakdeflectionforthelowerbeltpath
B occurring at the lower right quadrant is less than the peak deflection in the upper right quadrant for belt
geometryA.
However, the strainbased measurements indicate the highest load at the 6th rib for the lower belt path.
Basedonthestrainmeasurement,beltroutingBwouldberatedthelessfavorableconfiguration.Thissuggests
thatthestrainmeasurementprovidesadditionalrelevantinformation,whichisnotcapturedbyamultipoint
measurementsystemascurrentlyinstalledin theTHOR dummy.Sensitivitytochangesin beltgeometrynear
thebuckleshouldbefurtherinvestigated.CorrelationtoinjuriesinPMHStestsortoloadingsinhumanmodel
simulationsshouldbedonetofurtherunderstandthisissue.
ThebulgingoftheTHORribcageatthelowerleftquadranthasalsobeenreportedinPMHStests([14][15]).
InthesePMHStestsbulgingoutwasalsoobservedforthelowerunloadedquadrantin3pointbeltsledtests
duetotwopossiblemechanisms,whichwereasymmetricalbeltloadingandinertiaoftheunderlyingorgans.In
theTHORdummyteststhebeltloadingmightbethemainmechanism,becausetheinternalorgansarenotfully
represented in the dummy. However, only belt asymmetrical belt loading might not be able to produce this
effectasreportedby[16]whodidnotobservebulgeoutbyasymmetricalloadinginbenchtests.TestswithEU
demonstratorTHORforbiofidelityevaluationinthegoldstandardtestconfiguration[6]didnotshowbulgeout

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incontrasttothePMHSingoldstandardconfiguration[14].Tofurtherinvestigatethisdifferentobservationthe
beltroutingshouldbecomparedtothatusedwithinthisstudy.
THORaswellasHybridIIImultipointdeflectionmeasurementsaresensitivetopretensioningandtochanges
inloadlimitinglevel.Thedoublepretensioningaswellastheadaptiveloadlimitingshowsareductioninpeak
deflection of RibEye and IRTracc. Also the leftright difference is reduced in both cases. However, also the
singlepointmidsternumdeflectionintheHybridIIIindicatesareductionforbothbeltsystemparameters.
Differencesinbeltforcesfordoublepretensioningwereobservedbetweenthetwodummies.Thisindicates
that the Hybrid III is stiffer and shows an immediate but short effect of double pretensioning right after the
pretensioner is fired. In THOR the lap belt force shows a lower peak due to the anchor plate pretensioner.
However,anincreaseinbeltforceoveraperiodof50mscanbeobserved.
ThecomparisonofthetimehistoryplotsofmultipointdeflectionforHybridIIIandTHORwithastepdownin
beltforceshowscomparablerelaxationtimesoftheribs.However,intheTHORthedecreaseduetoreduced
shoulderbeltloadcanonlybeseenclearlyintheupperrightmeasurementpoint.ThisindicatesthattheTHOR
ribsarelesscoupledbythesternum(seeFigure27).Incontrast,allHybridIIIribsshowaverysimilardeflection
time history. Thisindicatesamuchstrongercouplingoftheribsbythesternum,becausealsotheribsinthe
lower left quadrant show the same time history of reduction in deflection like the upper right rib, which are
directlyloadedbythebelt(seeFigure29).
TheribattheupperrightIRTracc,whichindicatesthehighestdeflectionintheTHOR,didnotincreaseagain
afterbeingreducedduetothestepdowninbeltloadbytheadaptiveloadlimiter.Incontrast,theHybridIIIrib
deflection started to increase again to reach its absolute maximum in a second peak. As a result, different
triggertimesortuningsofadaptiverestraintcomponentsmightbenecessarytoreachoptimalvaluesforthe
THORandHybridIII.

Limitations
The tests were done in a simplified generic vehicle environment, which limits the possibility to draw
conclusionsastothedummyperformanceinafullvehiclecrashtest.Themainsimplificationscomparedtoa
fullvehicle environment are the missing knee contact and the nondeformable steering wheel support. The
missingkneecontactmightleadtoanoverestimationofthebenefitinreductionofchestdeflectionbydouble
pretensioning. However, as it was made sure by adjustment of the components of the test environment to
show dummy loadings being representative of an average vehicle, a transfer of the qualitative differences
between dummies and test configurations should be valid. Furthermore only one generic crash pulse was
considered.Furtherstudiesshouldinvolvetheinvestigationofthedummyresponsetodifferentpulses.
Furthermore the biofidelity of the sensitivity regarding the restraint system parameters investigated in this
testseriescouldnotbeanalysedbasedtheresultsofthisstudy.NocorrespondingPMHStestsfocusingonthe
effectofdoublepretensioiongoradaptiveloadlimitareavailableareavailable.Alsonoinformationonthese
parameters is available from indepth data. The question of biofidelity of the sensitivity of the restraint
parametersofthisstudycouldbefurtherinvestigatedbycorrespondinghumanbodymodelsimulations,which
areplannedbytheauthorsasanextstep.

V. CONCLUSIONS
The deflection measurements of the THOR dummy modkit upgraded chest are sensitive to the
investigatedbeltrestraintparameters.
Formostparameterchangesinvestigated,theTHORismoresensitivethantheHybridIII.
ThemultipointdeflectionmeasurementinHybridIIIaswellinTHORisabletoindicatethechestarea
withthehighestloading.
The strain measurements in the THOR ribs can provide additional insight for the comparison of
differentbeltroutingstoidentifythemoresevereloadingcondition.
Doublepretensioningaswellasastepdowninbeltforceleadstoareductionofalldeflectionvalues
ofallmeasurementsystems(chestpot,RibEye,IRTraccs).
ThethoraxbehaviorofTHORandHybridIIIconcerningtherelaxationtimeiscomparable.
The improvement of dummy design and measurement techniques show promising potential for
capturing a more detailed thorax response in order to develop advanced injury criteria sensitive to
restraintsystemparameters.

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VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research presented in this paper was carried out within the European project THORAX. The authors
would like to thank the European Commission for commissioning and cofunding this research within the 7th
Frameworkprogramme.

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