A dummy abdomen consisting of two sections was designed as a part of an effort to upgrade the biofidelity and measurement capabilities of current generation frontal crash test dummies. The abdomen was designed to mimic the dynamic stiffness of the human abdomen under steering wheel, belt and airbag impacts in an automotive environment. Instrumentation capable of measuring the deformation of the dummy abdomen was also designed and integrated into the abdomen. This presentation discusses the features of an abdomen and instrumentation system. In addition, tests conducted to evaluate the performance of the system are described. Results of these tests are presented. A number of design changes were instituted based on the results from static and dynamic tests. These design changes are described. (A)
Abstract