The Simulation Study Of Child Restraint Systems In Automobile Frontal Impact

In pediatric population, the fatality rate in automotive crash in China is about 2.5 times that of European countries and 2.6 times of the United States of America. As more and more families own their private cars, the child occupants' safety has been paid more and more attentions of the parents and the society. A lot of researches have revealed that the child restraint systems can offer the child occupants effective protection. But the research on child occupants' safety and child restraint systems just begin. At the present, we are working out the national standards "GB child restraint systems for wheeled vehicles". I am lucky to be the assistant of my guider to participate in this program. In order to improve the safety of children in cars, it is necessary to analyze the response of a child in vehicle impacts.In this study, I selected a child safety seat made in our country as the research object. This seat can be used in three ways. I have built three models which based on the dynamic specifications of ECE R44/04 with the rigid body dynamics code MADYMO and the 6-years-old and 9-month-old P-dummies. The three models are, (1) P3 dummy sitting in the frontal seat with a straight position in the frontal impact,( 2) P3 dummy sitting in the frontal seat with a laying position in the frontal impact, (3) P3/4 dummy sitting in the rear seat with a laying position in the frontal impact. I focus on the injury parameters specified in ECE R44/04 such as resultant chest acceleration, the vertical chest acceleration and the head displace. In the model of "P3 dummy sitting in the frontal seat with a straight position in the frontal crash ", in order to research some design parameters how to influence the effective of the protection I run the model in different values.The results show that using the CRS correctly has protect the child occupants in automotive crash. And the rear seat is better than frontal seat , the laying position is better than straight position. The results also show that friction coefficient of child seat, seat belt stiffness ect have certain influence on child occupant head and chest response in frontal impact, and proper CRS design may reduce child occupant injury risk in a crash accident.In this paper, I have also done a thorough and overall study on the foreign CRS standards, especially the FMVSS 213 and ECE R44.I summed up the similar and different points between them and the advantages and disadvantages of them. I hope this can offer some help to the work of "GB child restraint systems for wheeled vehicles".The result of this study has proved the truth that using the CRS correctly can certain protect the child occupant. The result also may serve as the reference for future improvements of CRS and contribute to the research on child occupant safety.