Validated criteria are vital tools in crash-safety research and development. In this study, NIC(sub max) outcomes from mathematical simulations were compared with real-life data in terms of the risk of sustaining long-term soft-tissue neck injuries in rear-end impacts. Mathematical models of the BioRID I and car seats were exposed to a broad set of low-speed crash pulses. It was found that the two seats representing cars with high neck-disability risk in real-life impacts resulted in higher NIC(sub max) values compared to the two low-risk seats. The mathematical simulations were also used to evaluate the influence of crash-pulse parameters on NIC(sub max). It was found that the commonly used change of velocity, was not a good predictor for NIC(sub max), nor was the crash-pulse peak acceleration. The change of velocity during the first 85 ms of the impact, change of velocity (sub 85ms), correlated with the NIC(sub max) and has therefore the potential to quantify impact severity. Furthermore, impacts with crash-pulse-recorder equipped cars, reported by Krafft et al (2000), were reconstructed. (Author/publisher).
Samenvatting