Rail Equipment Crashworthiness Research
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Evaluating Abdominal Injury in Workstation Table Impacts
This video shows the two of the occupant experiments conducted on the Crash Energy Management (CEM) two-car full-scale impact test. There are five scenes in all: the first scene shows an exterior view of the two-car test; the second two scenes show the actual test video of the experiments; and the last two scenes show the test video again, but with an animation from a computer simulation overlaid.
The first scene shows a two-car CEM passenger train approaching from the right side of the screen. The lead car in the two-car train impacts a concrete wall, which causes the integrated end frame and sliding sill to slide back and crush the primary energy absorbers. There is also a small amount of crush in the energy absorbers between the lead car and the trailing car.
The second scene shows the interior of the lead car in the two-car train during the impact. A THOR 50th percentile male test dummy is located in a facing-seat arrangement with an intervening workstation table. The test dummy is initially seated on the window side facing the impacted end of the lead car, or the left side of the frame. Flash bulbs fire to indicate the moment of impact, at which point the test dummy begins to travel towards the left side of the frame. The dummy soon impacts the intervening table at the lower ribcage level of the thorax. Immediately after contact with the table occurs, the upper body begins to rotate down towards the tabletop and the pelvis and femurs rotate upwards towards the bottom of the table, forming a "C" shape about the point of contact. The upper body rotation continues rapidly until the head impacts the forward edge of the tabletop, and passes between the knees on the far side of the table. The THOR then rebounds gradually, and the final resting position is partially slumped over the table.
The third scene shows the interior of the lead car in the two-car train during the impact. A Hybrid III Railway Safety (Hybrid 3RS) test dummy is located in a facing-seat arrangement with an intervening workstation table. The test dummy is initially seated on the window side facing the impacted end of the lead car, or the left side of the frame. Flash bulbs fire to indicate the moment of impact, at which point the test dummy begins to travel towards the left side of the frame. The dummy soon impacts the intervening table at the lower ribcage level of the thorax. Upon contact with the table, the upper body rotates a small amount towards the tabletop and the pelvis and femurs rotate a small amount upwards towards the bottom of the table. This rotation of the Hybrid 3RS is not as significant as that of the THOR. The Hybrid 3RS then quickly rebounds and returns to the original seated position, with the exception of the legs straightening out at the knees.
The fourth scene shows the THOR test dummy again, this time with an animation from a computer simulation of overlaid on top of the test video. This computer simulation captures the forward translation of the test dummy, the rotation of the upper body towards the top of the table, the rotation of the lower body towards the bottom of the table, and the impact of the head with the top of the table. Overall, the simulation shows excellent agreement with the kinematics of the occupant during the test.
The fourth scene shows the Hybrid 3RS test dummy again, this time with an animation from a computer simulation of overlaid on top of the test video. This computer simulation captures the forward translation of the test dummy, the small amount of rotation of the upper body towards the top of the table, the small amount of rotation of the lower body towards the bottom of the table, and the motion of the head towards the top of the table. Overall, the simulation shows excellent agreement with the kinematics of the occupant during the test.
View analysis and test video:
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Large MPEG (76.2MB)
Windows Media (3.2MB)
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