Effect of Contact Friction between Seatbelt and Human Body Model on Simulation of Rib Fracture in Frontal Impact

Abstract

Seatbelt contact friction coefficient may have some influence on chest injury prediction because it can affect the position of the seatbelt during the impact. The objective was to study the influence of the seatbelt contact friction coefficient on predicted rib fracture outcome in frontal impact. Four simulations of frontal impact sled tests in the same environment were conducted wherein the contact friction coefficient between the seatbelt and the chest model was varied. A noticeable effect was observed wherein increasing friction coefficient which tended to cause a slight decrease in the number of predicted fractures. Despite this, the magnitude of sensitivity was small, suggesting that in the absence of other information arbitrary values of friction coefficient within a reasonable intermediate range may be justified for this specific test condition.