Active Human Body Model Simulations of Whole-Sequence Braking and Far-Side Side-Impact Configurations

Paper in proceeding, 2022

Vehicle crashes may be preceded by evasive manoeuvres, executed by the driver or automatically. This study demonstrates a seamless simulation with an Active Human Body Model (HBM) as driver in a whole-sequence crash scenario, consisting of a braking intervention followed by a side-impact to the passenger side. Ten simulations were run with two different side-impact configurations combined with two impact speeds. Possible effects of restraint intervention by a reversible seatbelt retractor and a far-side airbag function were studied, analysing displacements and tissue level injury predictions using the SAFER HBM. The braking intervention led to a more forward occupant position at the start of the crash phase. A more forward impact point on the vehicle side resulted in 50 mm lowered lateral head excursion, compared to a mid-compartment impact configuration. This was influenced by the larger vehicle rotation and reduced lateral crash pulse. The SAFER HBM was shown to be capable of seamless simulations combining a braking intervention followed by a far-side side-impact. This enables a larger range of possible real-world representative scenarios to be used for occupant protection evaluation, including both pre-crash and in-crash protection systems.