INVESTIGATION OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR MANIKIN SKELETAL COMPONENTS

MANIKINS ARE CURRENTLY FABRICATED WITH A SKELETON OF METAL "BONES" WHICH PROVIDE THE STRUCTURAL STRENGTH REQUIRED TO WITHSTAND THE REPEATEDLY HIGH ACCELERATIONS AND LOADS OF DYNAMIC TESTING. SUCH METAL STRUCTURES, HOWEVER, DO NOT EXHIBIT PROPER SEGMENT INERTIAL DISTRIBUTION OR LOAD-DEFORMATION PROPERTIES, WHICH MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO DESIGN MANIKINS FOR BIOFIDELIC RESPONSE. FOR THIS REASON, IT IS PROPOSED TO INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR SPECIFIC STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE MANIKIN. SUCH MATERIALS HAVE HIGHER STIFFNESS-TO-WEIGHT AND STRENGTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIOS AND HAVE MORE BONE-LIKE DEFORMATION PROPERTIES THAN THE CURRENTLY USED METAL PARTS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PHASE I EFFORT ARE TO FIRST EVALUATE PROBLEM AREAS IN THE SKELETAL STRUCTURES OF TEST MANIKINS, AND TO ANALYZE HUMAN SKELETAL PROPERTIES. A CONCEPT FOR A SINGLE MANIKIN SEGMENT, THE FEMUR, WILL THEN BE DEVELOPED, FOLLOWED BY FABRICATION OF A PROTOTYPE. THE FEASIBILITY OF REPLACING THE REMAINING METALLIC COMPONENTS WITH COMPOSITE PARTS WILL ALSO BE EXAMINED.