Iliac wing fracture from lap belt loading

Abstract

Autonomous cars are expected to increase in the near future and one of the features of those cars is to ride reclined as the driving task is managed by the vehicle. In the reclined posture the occupant will have a more horizontal torso position. With the current 3- point seatbelt it is more difficult to control torso body motion in reclined postures compared to upright postures and the risk of submarining may also increase. Submarining is an event where the pelvis slips under the lap belt and loads the abdomen instead of the pelvis. There are different techniques to avoid submarining and one of them is to increase the pre-tension force in the lap belt. This avoids the risk of submarining but instead, the risk of iliac wing fracture increases due to the higher pelvis load. Recently experiments on isolated iliac wings have been performed,with the intention to find the fracture load. In this thesis, these experiments were recreated in a simulation environment and with those simulation results, the injury risk functions are generated to estimate the probability of the iliac wing fracture. A conclusive single injury risk function suitable for practical application could not be determined.