Development of an Active 6-Year-Old Child Human Body Model for Simulation of Emergency Events

One contributing factor to head injury in restrained child occupants is pre‐crash maneuvers and\nactive child human body models (HBMs) can be useful tools to design pre‐crash interventions with child safety in\nfocus. This paper implemented postural control in the MADYMO human facet occupant model of a 6‐year‐old\nchild using feedback controlled torque actuators. Control parameters were tuned and the active HBM was\ncompared to experimental data from braking and steering events with child volunteers. The head and sternum\ndisplacements of the active HBM were within one standard deviation of the experimental data, while the\noriginal HBM did not capture the volunteer kinematics at all. By predicting biofidelic child kinematics, the\ndeveloped model shows potential as a useful tool for the automotive industry to study the protective properties\nof restraint systems in pre‐crash scenarios. For autonomous steering events, it was illustrated that the shape of\nthe acceleration pulse highly influences the peak head displacements of child occupants. This is an aspect that\nneeds to be considered when autonomous interventions are designed, to ensure the safety of short forward\nfacing child occupants.