Performance Evaluation of HIC Component Testing Device With a Flexible Neck Using Computational Model

The Head Injury Criteria (HIC) compliance is an important aircraft interior furnishing certification. This certification confirms the compliance of the HIC requirement as per 14CFR 23.562 [1] and 14 CFR 25.562 [2]. Full scale crash sled tests are widely used destructive test method to show the required compliance of head injury criteria. This method is costly, time consuming and non repeatable. Factors such as sled pulse shape, belt slack, seating posture of the dummy results change in the dynamic conditions which ultimately affect the HIC value. This poses a significant challenge and high costs to the manufactures to show the compliance of aircraft interior furnishings for the certification process. These factors compel the development of alternative method to certify the cabin furnishings for HIC compliance without consuming aircraft seats, which is more repeatable and non time consuming. The laboratory HIC component tester is the device developed to duplicate the full scale crash HIC result. This device is capable to produce similar dynamic conditions upon impact with the test article resulting duplication of the full scale crash test result. The current model is developed with the rigid neck of polycarbonate unlike the flexible neck of Hybrid II part 572 ATD (Anthropomorphic Test Dummy). This study investigates the scope of improvement in dynamic characteristic of the HCTD (HIC Component Testing Device) with flexible neck. Flexible neck performance is evaluated using validated computational model of the HCTD. The computational model is used to simulate the correlation between the HCTD with rigid neck and HCTD with flexible neck with FSST (Full Scale Sled Test). The result demonstrates that HTCD correlates well with the FSST when flexible neck is used and provides conservative results with rigid neck.