The Effect of Crash Pulse Shape on Occupant Simulations

Computer simulations are frequently used to analyze occupant kinematics in motor vehicle crashes, including what they collide with during the crash and the severity of these internal collisions. From study of such occupant simulations, it is then possible to infer how the actual human occupants may have been injured in a crash. When using a simulation to study how occupants react in a vehicle crash, a crash-pulse is usually required as input to the occupant simulation model. This crash-pulse is typically generated from a study of the vehicle motion and acceleration during the crash. There are several different methods for obtaining such a crash-pulse which are in common use. Each of these methods produces a different shape for the crash-pulse, even with identical velocity changes for the vehicle. The time duration, maximum acceleration, and general shape of the crash-pulse may influence the predicted motion of the occupants. In this research, the GATB (Graphical Articulated Total Body) computer simulation model is used to study basic occupant kinematics using a variety of shapes for the crash-pulse, in order to determine how the specific shape of the crash-pulse affects the predicted occupant kinematics.