The purpose of this thesis was to analyse if a combined safety-belt/lifejacket system could protect the occupants of a lifeboat during the evacuation phase, and obtain data about human tolerance levels for the occupants. Crash tests were made at the crash test track at VTI, Linkoeping, with a slightly modified bench arrangement of a typical lifeboat. 27 tests were made at VTI, simulating impacts of the lifeboat against the mother ship and drops with the lifeboat into the water. With the use of crash test dummies with accelerometers and high-speed cameras, results were obtained about the risk of injuries. The result was that a safety belt system improves the safety onboard. An idea for the design of a combined lifejacket/safety-belt system is presented. Some changes of the design of the benches onboard the lifeboat has also been suggested. These are the use of padding inside the lifeboat, a semi-flexible board on the edges of the bench and an elastic back support band for the higher benches. The results and suggested changes are presented in chapter 8 Conclusions. (Author/publisher) This report is also available electronically via Internet at http://www.vti.se/PDF/reports/S352.pdf.
Samenvatting