| Nearly one third of all motor vehicle accidents are rear end collisions, of which 70% are low speed impacts. Recent engineering studies attempted to predict the variables that would result in injury in their test occupants exposed to low speed crashes. For many years in the scientific community, it was believed that injury was impossible in low-speed collisions since the typical motion of the head and neck seen during a higher speed collision did not occur. However, a whole new body of literature has shown that the spine may actually be more of risk at low speed collision than at higher speed collision.; The occupant in a rear-end collision usually experiences severe pain in the neck region, due to the effect of whiplash. Factors such as seatback angle of the seat, position of the head rest with respect to the head. Flexibility of the seat back fixture, etc plays a significant role in the nature of severity of injuries sustained.; This thesis will attempt to study the occupants response during low-speed rear-end collision in a 'close-to-real life' scenario as experienced in a mid size sedan. The acceleration pulses (g's) experienced at the driver's seat are obtained from a LS-Dyna simulation using a model of a mid size sedan in a rear end collision scenario against a full width deformable barrier. The results obtained from these simulations are found to resemble very closely to the real life condition. Thus a pulse of is obtained at a low speed rear end collision. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
