| Automobile collisions with various species of animals account for a significant amount of property damage worldwide. Occasionally, accidents of this type require testing where a representative surrogate, one that mimics the struck animal, is needed to conduct dynamic vehicle crash testing to evaluate one or more particular facets of the accident. To date, several different devices have been built from various materials including chain, foam, fluid filled hoses, sand, and steel cables. The purpose of this research was to gather data from several biological test specimens and then find a more representative material to construct a surrogate test device that more closely mimics the particular animal when contacted by a moving vehicle.; Force versus deflection data were collected at various locations along the lateral aspect of three (3) “Odocoileus hemionus ” (mule deer) subjects immediately after death. Maximum utilization of the limited number of test subjects included over fifty (50) dynamic drop tests at varying drop heights on each of the three (3) specimens. Linear best-fit curve analysis was then completed on each of the resultant data traces to determine the “stiffness” for the particular impact.; A urethane elastomer material was selected as an appropriate replacement material after statistical analysis revealed a very similar response in dynamic drop testing. This material also provided the necessary weight to volume requirements as its specific gravity is very near 1.0. Casting this material into a representative shape and size was accomplished with the two (2) part resin that produced the elastomer.; Development methods refined in this research, both in the gathering and analysis of stiffness data as well as the overall construction approach of a representative somatic test device, will find application in automobile crash testing. A more realistic test device was created much more economically than previous devices and responds in a much more lifelike manner during dynamic testing. Methods developed will allow other surrogate devices to be built which are representative of other common genus involved in automobile collisions such as Bovine, Equine, and Alces. |
