Rail Equipment Crashworthiness Research
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Two-Car Impact Test of Crash Energy Management Passenger Rail Cars: Analysis of Occupant Protection Measurements
The video shows the occupant response in each occupant experiment conducted on board the two-car full-scale impact test of crash energy management rail equipment. The first experiment has two 95th percentile anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), or crash test dummies, seated in a two-passenger forward-facing inter-city seat. There is another seat pair mounted ahead of the ATDs. The experiment is in the leading cab car. When the car impacts the rigid barrier, both ATDs translate forward. The knees strike the seat back ahead of the ATDs, causing the seat back to rotate forward about the seat base. Next the ATDs' heads and chests impact the seat back, causing further rotation. The momentum of the ATDs causes them to rise up along the seat back. After a maximum seat back rotation of about 30 degrees, the ATDs motion is arrested and they begin to fall downward and backward, striking their chins on the top of the forward seat back. The ATDs come to rest with their chests lying on the deformed forward seat back. The seat pairs remain fastened to the car and the ATDs are compartmentalized between the rows of seats.
The seating configuration in the second experiment is two facing seat pairs with a workstation table mounted between the seats. A single Hybrid 3RS ATD is seated at the table in the window seat of the forward-facing seat pair. The experiment is in the leading cab car. Upon impact the ATD translates forward until his abdomen strikes the table edge. His head and chest rotate forward about the table and his knees strike the rear-facing seat pair under the table. The ATD rebounds away from the table and comes to rest near his original seated position. The seats and table remain fastened to the car and the ATD is compartmentalized between the forward-facing seat and table.
The seating configuration in the third experiment is identical to that in the second experiment, except the ATD is a THOR 50th percentile male. The experiment is also in the leading cab car. Upon impact the ATD translates forward, first impacting the table edge with his abdomen, then the rear-facing seat with his knees. The THOR ATD in this experiment has a more flexible torso than the Hybrid 3RS ATD in the previous experiment. The ATD collapses about the table, with his chin striking the far side of the tabletop and his head falling between his knees on the opposite side of the table. The ATD rebounds somewhat and comes to rest on the edge of the seat with his torso leaning on the table. The seats and table remain fastened to the car and the ATD is compartmentalized between the forward-facing seat and table.
The fourth experiment has a single 50th percentile HIII male ATD seated in the middle position of a rear-facing three-passenger commuter seat in the trailing coach car. Because the ATD is rear-facing, upon impact the ATD moves backward against the seat back causing about 15 degrees of rotation of the seat back. The ATDs head whips backward and strikes the top of the seat back. The ATD rebounds off the seat back and falls off the front edge of the seat base. The seat remained attached to the car. The ATD ended up on the floor, but likely would have been compartmentalized had there been another row of seats in place to contain him.
The fifth and final experiment has two HIII and one HII 50th percentile male ATDs seated in a forward-facing three-passenger commuter seat. There is another seat mounted ahead of the ATDs. The experiment is in the trailing coach car. The video in this experiment is taken from an overhead view. Upon impact, the ATDs translate forward. The ATDs' knees strike the seat back first, causing significant deformation of the seat back. Eventually the ATDs' heads catch up with the seat and strike the seat back. The seat back deforms so severely that the momentum of the ATDs carries them over the top of the seat backs and out of the view of the camera. While the seats remained attached, the extreme deformation of the seat back prevented the ATDs from being compartmentalized.
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View text description of video.
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