Evaluation of an Alternate Thorax Deflection Device in the SIDIIs ATD

The use of a RibEye system in a SID-IIs crash dummy was evaluated. The SID-IIs is a small adult female side impact anthropomorphic test device. The RibEye is a non-contact optical system that uses triangulation to measure rib deflection. This study quantified RibEye measurements using four evaluation environments. First, a SID-IIs thorax with an internal RibEye was impacted with a linear impactor and the measurements were compared to accelerometer and video measurements. Next, the RibEye was mounted in a vertical drop tower and impacted with a falling drop mass, simulating a purely lateral side impact. The RibEye measurements were compared to data from linear potentiometers, which are typically used in the SIDIIs. A similar drop tower test series was then conducted which included tests with the RibEye mounted at an angle to simulate oblique loading to a dummy during a side impact. Lastly, a series of full vehicle crash tests was conducted to compare measurements from a SID-IIs dummy with a RibEye to a SID-IIs dummy with linear potentiometers. The lateral drop tower tests indicated that peak deflections measured by the RibEye were generally within 1 mm of the linear potentiometer measurements. In the full vehicle crash tests, the RibEye and linear potentiometer measurements fell within the expected variability from crash test to crash test. User interface issues and the practicality of RibEye in the full vehicle tests are also discussed. In oblique loading tests, the RibEye revealed significant X-axis motions that cannot be measured by linear potentiometers as typically mounted in the SID-IIs thorax. The full text of this paper may be found at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv21/09-0437.pdf For the covering abstract see ITRD E145407.