Redesigning the Lumbar Spine of Small Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) to Better Simulate Submarining in Frontal Crashes

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Abstract The primary objective of the sixteen frontal sled tests was to compare the performance of the Hybrid III 5th percentile female car crash test dummy equipped with a lumbar spine prototype (LS-prototype) to that of the same car crash test dummy (ATD) fitted with the original lumbar spine element (LS-original) in accurately simulating submarining and assessing abdominal injury risk. A lumbar spine prototype was required because the original element's high flexural stiffness prevented accurate submarining simulation in frontal crash tests. To produce conditions with different likelihoods of submarining, four seat belt configurations were tested. These configurations included standard seat belt, slack on shoulder belt, slack on lap belt, and pre-submarining. Results of this group of frontal sled testes showed that Submarining occurred with the LS-prototype under a lap belt slack configuration, but not with the LS-original. During submarining, the LS-prototype exhibited fluctuations in the peak lap belt force traces, which indicated submarining that did not occur with the LS-original. The results indicate that the LS-prototype is more flexible, more biofidelic (human-like), and more repeatable than the LS-original, effectively mimicking submarining in loading conditions where submarining would be expected but does not occur with the LS-original. Description of the data and file structure Biomechanical data of this group of frontal sled tests were collected in a Microsoft Excel file (Redesigning_ the_Lumbar_Spine_Element_of_Small_Anthropomorphic_Test_Device_(ATD)_to_Better_Simulate _Submarining_in_Frontal_Crashes). To view the data, Microsoft Excel can be used to open the file. This is important to highlight that these data are pure. Each worksheet in the Excel file contains recorded data for a single channel. For example, the sheet named “Head Gx” contains head-acceleration data in the X direction for multiple sled tests. The “Head Gx” sheet includes two columns: 'Time' and 'Acceleration'. The first row of each column contains the column title. For example, “Time — sled test 110” denotes the time history for sled test 110, and “Head Gx — sled test 110” denotes the head-acceleration trace for sled test 110. Additionally, to make individual sled-test responses easier to distinguish, each test's data are shown in a different color. The worksheet titles are listed below to help you find the sheet you want. Head Gx: Head acceleration in the X direction Head Gy: Head acceleration in the Y direction Head Gz: Head acceleration in the Z direction Head G-Resultant: Resultant of head acceleration Chest Gx: Chest acceleration in the X direction Chest Gy: Chest acceleration in the Y direction Chest Gz: Chest acceleration in the Z direction Chest G-Resultant: Resultant of chest acceleration Lumbar spine Fx: Lumbar spine force in in the X direction Lumbar spine Fy: Lumbar spine force in in the Y direction Lumbar spine Fz: Lumbar spine force in in the Z direction Lumbar spine F-Resultant: Resultant of lumbar spine force Lumbar spine Mx: Lumbar spine moment about the X-axis (X direction) Lumbar spine My: Lumbar spine moment about the Y-axis (Y direction) Lumbar spine Mz: Lumbar spine moment about the Z-axis (Z direction) Lumbar spine M-Resultant: Resultant of lumbar spine moment Sled pulse: Acceleration of Sled-board in the X direction Readme: Redesigning the Lumbar Spine Element of Small Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) to Better Simulate Submarining in Frontal Crashes. In this study, the LS-prototype and LS-original were equipped with multiple sensors that recorded biomechanical data from several regions of the ATD. These data are essential in the field of crash testing for assessing injury risk. Recorded channels included three-axis head accelerometers (X, Y, Z), three-axis chest accelerometers (X, Y, Z), and three-component lumbar-spine forces and moments (X, Y, Z).