Comparison of Human Surrogate Responses in Underbody Blast Loading Conditions

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Occupant Safety
• Injury Biomechanics

Background:

• Impact biomechanics research primarily studies automotive collisions.
• Understanding human response to underbody blast (UBB) vertical loading is limited.
• Current anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) may not accurately represent UBB loading effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize the biomechanical response of post mortem human subjects (PMHS) and a Hybrid III ATD under vertical loading.
• To evaluate the biofidelity and injury prediction capabilities of the Hybrid III ATD in UBB scenarios.
• To identify knowledge gaps in human injury tolerance under vertical accelerative loading.

Main Methods:

• Conducted six whole-body PMHS tests under two vertical loading conditions.
• Performed Hybrid III ATD tests under identical vertical loading conditions.
• Utilized matched-pair experiments comparing PMHS and ATD responses.

Main Results:

• Tibial accelerations showed comparable shape and magnitude between PMHS and the Hybrid III ATD.
• Significant variations in response were observed at other sensor locations.
• Post-test inspection revealed damage to the Hybrid III ATD's pelvis, impacting response accuracy.

Conclusions:

• The Hybrid III ATD demonstrated limitations in accurately replicating PMHS biomechanical response under vertical UBB loading.
• Damage to the ATD's pelvis significantly affected its response characteristics.
• Further research is needed to improve ATD biofidelity for UBB-relevant vertical loading scenarios.