Overview
The development of adaptive safety systems addressing vehicle occupant protection requires the use of in depth knowledge of various occupant features, specifically those related to the risk of injury. All occupants in passenger vehicles are at risk of sustaining whiplash injuries in a low severity crash.
At the start of this project, whiplash associated disorders (WAD), the so called whiplash injuries, resulting from car crashes, were a serious traffic safety issue, resulting in over 4 billion costs to the European society. Yearly more than 300,000 European citizens suffered neck problems from these injuries and 15,000 crashes resulted in long terms consequences. Whiplash injuries can lead to severe pain and suffering for the victim and may result in huge societal costs.
The difference in risk between the robust, male, population and the vulnerable, female, part of the population is between 40-100%. This has been reported from epidemiological studies from all over the world since the end of the 1960s until today. Yet still, when assessing the vehicle safety the only available occupant model for these impact scenarios has tended to be an average male. Adaptive anti-whiplash systems need to be evaluated for their benefits both for males and females. If there are no improved protective systems, further rising costs for the European Society can be expected.
ADSEAT aimed to substantially reduce the whiplash injury risk for all vehicle occupants by preparing the ground work and initiate recommendations for future evaluation of the effectiveness of anti-whiplash systems.
This ADSEAT project aimed at establishing the properties for a model of an average female and to implement those in a computational model in order to provide an improved tool for the development and evaluation of adaptive systems with special focus on protection against whiplash injuries.
The overall objective of ADSEAT was to provide guidance on how to evaluate the protective performance of vehicle seat designs aiming to reduce the incidence of Whiplash Associated Disorders.
The project resulted in a computational model of a female, in addition to the male model that already existed, for low severity testing. In addition, the computational models were used in the design and evaluation of adaptive seat systems in order to provide enhanced neck injury protection from the seat.
The work concentrated on evaluating the protective performance of seats beneficial to female as well as male motor vehicle occupants. A computational dummy model of an average female was to be developed in the project. This new research tool would be used in conjunction with the only currently available dummy model, based on the average male, when evaluating enhanced whiplash injury protection.
Funding
Results
The world's first virtual dummy model, called EvaRID (Eva female, RID - Rear Impact Dummy) of an average female had been developed in the ADSEAT project. It was the first time in the history of crash testing that it was possible to address occupant protection for both males and females. For the development of the model, the anthropometry of the average female was established based on data found in the scientifically published literature. Data from volunteer tests using male and female volunteers in identical test conditions was collected and analysed, and corridors for dynamic female responses were established. Based on the results of the analysis it was deemed necessary to perform new volunteer tests in a seat that allowed for larger head restraint gaps. Licenses for the use of the EvaRID model were available from the ADSEAT partner Humanetics, and their contact details could be found on said website. In addition, a prototype loading device dummy model of an average female, named BioRID 50F, was constructed on the advice of the Advisory Group (AG) to be included in the final test series with the prototype seat as they concluded that this would strengthen the output of the project.
The development of the design illustrator based on generic seat simulations with BioRID II, the dummy model of an average male, and EvaRID, the dummy model of an average female, was completed. The illustrator was made available to the public on the ADSEAT website, http://www.adseat.eu/page/illustrator, and its purpose was to demonstrate how improved seats, incorporating options to adjust the seats to benefit both genders, would provide protection for male and female occupants in rear impact car crashes
Innovation aspects
ADSEAT advanced the state-of-the-art in dummy models by developing the first computational dummy model of an average female, the EvaRID (Eva - female / RID - Rear Impact Dummy) for low-severity rear impact testing. Not only was this model the first in the world, it was also the first dedicated female dummy model in the history of crash testing and it represented the part of the population with the highest risk of being victims of whiplash injuries in low velocity rear end impacts. Furthermore, the data needed in order to develop a computational model of an average female, such as defining size, weight, dynamic response properties, etc., was completed by the ADSEAT project. In addition, injury criteria and thresholds for females were formulated and a seat demonstrator illustrating how whiplash protection can be achieved for both males and females using adaptive seat design was developed. Until the ADSEAT project, such a seat demonstrator was not viable since the anthropometry of an average sized female had not yet been established and a model of the female part of the population was not yet produced.
Other results
The results from the project were extensively published, presented and well received by stakeholders and the general public during the duration of the project. In total, 27 presentations and publications were made. Scientific publications were made in Journal of Traffic Injury Prevention, the Journal of Crashworthiness and Accident Analysis and Prevention. A PhD thesis based on part of the work carried out in the ADSEAT project was presented at Chalmers University in 2012 and the ADSEAT work was presented at conferences such as IRCOBI 2010, 2011 and 2012, TRA 2012 and ESV 2011 and 2012. Additional papers have been accepted for presentation at the "Road Safety on 4 Continents" conference held in Beijing, May 2013, and the ESV conference in Seoul, also in May 2013. A further paper was submitted for the IRCOBI conference 2013 and one journal paper discussing the socio-economic benefits of the ADSEAT project has been prepared. More publications and presentations have been envisaged to present the final results of the project.
Strategy targets
An efficient and integrated mobility system:
- Secure Transport
- Acting on transport safety: saving thousands of lives