In spite of considerable effort of researchers, an effective leg protection device for motorcyclists, free from undesirable side effects has, so far, not been developed. In order to explore the feasibility of the development of an effective motorcycle leg protection device, it is beneficial to analyze the mechanism of leg injury. Progress in measuring methods of leg load will contribute to research into leg protection devices. This paper presents some experiments carried out on three types of a dummy leg bone structure. The three types were a steel bone with sensors at the end of each tibia and two breakable bakelite bones where one was equipped with sensors at each end. The tests were as follows: (1) static, in order to examine static bending load and deformation (2) dynamic, using a movable cart with an impactor in order to examine bending of lower leg units (3) dynamic, using a pendulum impactor in order to analyze load and fracture of the impact to the lower leg (4) full-scale impact with a car striking the left side of the motorcycle. In addition to an evaluation of the three different dummy legs the performance of the legs as a part of a whole anthropometric dummy is analyzed. For the covering abstract of the conference, see IRRD 837684.
Abstract