Vulnerable like a cyclist
Dummies designed to represent a man, woman, and child have long been used in crash tests to make vehicles safer for people. In recent years, these three designs have been joined by another type of dummy which represents unprotected people when analyzing the crash.
“This dummy has been developed to play the role of vulnerable road users in crash tests and, during the collision, to cause vehicle damage that is comparable to the damage caused in real accidents,” explains Andreas Schäuble from DEKRA Accident Research. The dummies used in passenger car crash tests are not designed for this purpose:
They are relatively rigid and cause much stronger deformation than a real human during an impact with a vehicle
he says.
The new dummy is much better at mimicking the processes and damage that occur in a real accident involving vulnerable road users. It has been dubbed a ‘biofidelic’ model, which means it resembles the human body as closely as possible. According to the manufacturer, the bones of the dummy’s skeleton have a comparable breaking strength to human bones. The artificial tissue has pseudoelastic properties like humans – it deforms under pressure before returning to its original shape.
For DEKRA’s experts and accident researchers, the biofidelic dummy opens up new possibilities when simulating and investigating accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists. In addition to the damage caused to the vehicle, the ‘injuries’ that the test dummy suffers in a crash test can also be used to analyze the injury mechanisms, i.e., the way in which injuries occur. This, in turn, will enable conclusions to be drawn about the nature of the accident, such as how and from which direction the person was hit.
‘Biofidelic’ dummies already play a valuable role in accident analysis and research. However, the dummies themselves are also still being researched. For example, DEKRA Accident Research is running projects looking into how meaningful different ‘injury patterns’ are, and into other future applications.