A mathematical model to predict the dynamic response of an automobile's occupant during general vehicle motion

Engineers are currently attempting to reduce the severity of single vehicle accidents by designing and building a safer roadway environment. To accomplish this, consideration must be given to the expected dynamic response of the vehicle and occupant during a collision with roadside obstacles. The reported research presents the development of an analytical model that predicts the response of an automobile passenger during vehicle motion of a general nature, i.e., a three-dimensional path including simultaneous rotations about the three directions. This model reduces the problem of predicting the accelerations and forces acting on a passenger during a collision or violent maneuver to that of specifying the path of the vehicle as a function of time plus the deformation properties of the vehicle interior. The vehicle occupant is defined mathematically in three dimensions as an independent system which is then placed inside the vehicle but not connected to it. The vehicle interior contains the passenger within its boundaries by applying contact forces while the vehicle moves through space. The geometry of the vehicle occupant is idealized by 12 rigid mass segments interconnected in a pattern which reflects the articulated nature of the human body. This system has 31 degrees of freedom which correspond to the set of generalized coordinates used in Lagrange's equations to derive equations of motion. These equations are solved numerically with the aid of the IBM 360/65 computer. ..