The field performance of frontal air bags: a review of the literature

This article presents a broad review of the literature on frontal air bag field performance, starting with the initial government and industry projections of effectiveness and concluding with the most recent assessments of depowered systems. This review includes as many relevant metrics as practicable, interprets the findings, and provides references so the interested reader can further evaluate the limitations, confounders, and utility of each metric. The evaluations presented here range from the very specific (individual case studies) to the general (statistical analyses of large databases). The metrics used to evaluate air bag performance include fatality reduction or increase; serious, moderate, and minor injury reduction or increase; harm reduction or increase; and cost analyses, including insurance costs and the cost of life years saved for various air bag systems and design philosophies. The review begins with the benefits of air bags. Fatality and injury reductions attributable to the air bag are presented. Next, the negative consequences of air bag deployment are described. Injuries to adults and children and the current trends in air bag injury rates are discussed, as are the few documented instances of inadvertent deployments or non-deployment in severe crashes. In the third section, an attempt is made to quantify the influence of the many confounding factors that affect air bag performance. The negative and positive characteristics of air bags are then put into perspective within the context of societal costs and benefits. Finally, some special topics, including risk homeostasis and the performance of face bags, are discussed.     

出口风速对防烟空气幕防烟效果影响的数值模拟

本文利用火灾模拟软件FDS，以四川消防研究所高层实验塔二层为原型，建立模型研究了防烟空气幕防烟空气幕出口风速对高层建筑前室烟气运动的影响，试验中在前室内设置18个测点，测定前室内的温度、CO浓度及能见度变化情况，试验结果表明：当风速〈1m／s时，前室内各测点处各参数变化情况与无风幕时基本相同，防烟效果不明显，风速〉2．5m／s时，随着出口风速的增加，前室内各测点处温度、CO浓度降低，能见度增加，烟气蔓延途径由前室上部逐渐变为前室下部，且前室门处0．2m、1．25m高度处测点处各参数值瞬间波动很大，综合考虑防烟的有效性及经济性，认为防烟空气幕的最佳运行风速应为2．5m／s～3．5m／s。     

Injury risk functions for frontal oblique collisions

Objective: The objective of this article was the construction of injury risk functions (IRFs) for front row occupants in oblique frontal crashes and a comparison to IRF of nonoblique frontal crashes from the same data set.

Method: Crashes of modern vehicles from GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) were used as the basis for the construction of a logistic injury risk model. Static deformation, measured via displaced voxels on the postcrash vehicles, was used to calculate the energy dissipated in the crash. This measure of accident severity was termed objective equivalent speed (oEES) because it does not depend on the accident reconstruction and thus eliminates reconstruction biases like impact direction and vehicle model year. Imputation from property damage cases was used to describe underrepresented low-severity crashes―a known shortcoming of GIDAS. Binary logistic regression was used to relate the stimuli (oEES) to the binary outcome variable (injured or not injured).

Results: IRFs for the oblique frontal impact and nonoblique frontal impact were computed for the Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+ and 3+ levels for adults (18–64 years). For a given stimulus, the probability of injury for a belted driver was higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique frontal crashes. For the 25% injury risk at MAIS 2+ level, the corresponding stimulus for oblique crashes was 40 km/h but it was 64 km/h for nonoblique frontal crashes.

Conclusions: The risk of obtaining MAIS 2+ injuries is significantly higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique crashes. In the real world, most MAIS 2+ injuries occur in an oEES range from 30 to 60 km/h.     

剧场建筑的空调设计探讨

针对剧场建筑的特殊性,对其观众厅及舞台的空调系统的设计方式进行探讨,并得出如下结论:（1）观众厅采用下送风方式;（2）舞台采用侧送、顶送及下回风方式。     

A model of the air traffic controller's picture

This paper reviews the development of a model of the air traffic controller's mental image, ‘picture’, or situation awareness, used for controlling air traffic. The computerised model's development, origins and theoretical basis are outlined, and the model is described in some detail in the context of current air traffic operations. The model can be utilised to explore the potential impacts of future automation on the cognitive performance of the air traffic controller. The general potential contributions of the area of cognitive modelling to system design and training in accelerating industries such as air traffic control, are also discussed.     

Prediction of cervical spine injury risk for the 6-year-old child in frontal crashes

This article presents a series of 49 km/h sled tests using the Hybrid III 6-year-old dummy in a high-back booster, a low-back booster, and a three-point belt. Although a 10-year review at a level I trauma center showed that noncontact cervical spine injuries are rare in correctly restrained booster-age children, dummy neck loads exceeded published injury thresholds in all tests. The dummy underwent extreme neck flexion during the test, causing full-face contact with the dummy's chest. These dummy kinematics were compared to the kinematics of a 12-year-old cadaver tested in a similar impact environment. The cadaver test showed neck flexion, but also significant thoracic spinal flexion which was nonexistent in the dummy. This comparison was expanded using MADYMO simulations in which the thoracic spinal stiffness of the dummy model was decreased to give a more biofidelic kinematic response. We conclude that the stiff thoracic spine of the dummy results in high neck forces and moments that are not representative of the true injury potential.     

大客车正面碰撞乘客约束系统仿真分析

为探究约束系统在全承载客车正面碰撞事故中对乘客损伤的影响,利用有限元分析软件LSDYNA建立某大客车正面碰撞仿真模型,并开展整车50 km/h正面100%重叠碰撞固定刚性壁障试验;从车身变形、加速度曲线和乘员损伤等3方面验证仿真模型;基于已验证的仿真模型,开展不同座椅间距、车厢位置及安全带类型的乘员运动响应和损伤等综合分析与评价。研究结果表明:不同位置车身加速度波形整体趋势相似,但具体峰值和出现时刻存在差异;增大座椅间距和主动预紧安全带能够有效降低降低头部损伤值,而颈部损伤则随之增大;乘客胸部损伤值和大腿力受主动预紧安全带、座椅间距和车厢位置影响不大。     

Development of injury criteria for pelvic fracture in frontal crashes

OBJECTIVE: This article assesses the position-dependent injury tolerance of the hip in the frontal direction based on testing of eight postmortem human subjects. METHODS: For each subject, the left and right hemipelvis complex was axially loaded using a previously developed test configuration. Six positions were defined from a seated femur neutral condition, combining flexed, neutral, and extended femur positions with abducted, neutral, and adducted positions. RESULTS: Axial injury tolerances based on peak force were found to be 6,850 +/- 840 N in the extended, neutral position and 4,080 +/- 830 N in the flexed, neutral position. From the flexed neutral orientation, the peak axial force increased 18% for 20 degrees abduction and decreased 6% for 20 degrees adduction. From the extended, neutral orientation, the peak axial force decreased 4% for 20 degrees abduction and decreased 3% for 20 degrees adduction. However, as there is evidence that increases in loading may occur after the initiation of fracture, the magnitude of the peak force is likely related to the extent of injury, not to the initial tolerance. Using the axial femur force at the initiation of fracture (assessed with acoustic crack sensors) as a potentially more relevant indicator of injury may lower the existing injury criteria. This fracture initiation force varied by position from 3,010 +/- 560 N in the flexed, neutral position to 5,470 N in the extended, abducted position. Further, there was a large position-dependent variation in the ratio of fracture initiation force to the peak axial force. The initiation of fracture was 83% of the peak axial force in the extended, abducted position, but the ratio was 34% in the extended, adducted position. CONCLUSIONS: This may have significant implications for the development of pelvic injury criteria by automobile designers attempting to mitigate pelvis injuries.     

Automobile injury trends in the contemporary fleet: Belted occupants in frontal collisions

Objective: As vehicle safety technologies and evaluation procedures advance, it is pertinent to periodically evaluate injury trends to identify continuing and emerging priorities for intervention. This study examined detailed injury distributions and injury risk trends in belted occupants in frontal automobile collisions (10 o’clock to 2 o’clock) using NASS-CDS (1998–2015).

Methods: Injury distributions were examined by occupant age and vehicle model year (stratified at pre- and post-2009). Logistic regression models were developed to examine the effects of various factors on injury risk (by body region), controlling for delta-V, sex, age, height, body mass index (BMI), vehicle model year (again stratified at 2009).

Results: Among other observations, these analyses indicate that newer model year vehicles (model year [MY] 2009 and later) carry less risk of Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 2+ and AIS 3+ injury compared to older model year vehicles, with odds ratios of 0.69 (AIS 2+) and 0.45 (AIS 3+). The largest reductions in risk between newer model year vehicles and older model year vehicles occur in the lower extremities and in the risk of skull fracture. There is no statistically significant change in risk of AIS 3+ rib fracture or sternum injury between model year categories. Females are at greater risk of AIS 2+ and AIS 3+ injury compared to males, with increased risk across most injury types.

Conclusions: For belted occupants in frontal collisions, substantial reductions in injury risk have been realized in many body regions in recent years. Risk reduction in the thorax has lagged other body regions, resulting in increasing prevalence among skeletal injuries in newer model year vehicles (especially in the elderly). Injuries also remain common in the arm and hand/wrist for all age ranges studied. These results provide insight into where advances in the field have made gains in occupant protection and what injury types remain to be addressed.     

地下室设置燃气空调机组的几点讨论

通过了解燃气空调的分类、工作原理及其火灾危险性,分析地下室设置燃气空调机组的可能性,提出其消防安全措施。     

Small female rib cage fracture in frontal sled tests

Objectives: The 2 objectives of this study are to (1) examine the rib and sternal fractures sustained by small stature elderly females in simulated frontal crashes and (2) determine how the findings are characterized by prior knowledge and field data.

Methods: A test series was conducted to evaluate the response of 5 elderly (average age 76 years) female postmortem human subjects (PMHS), similar in mass and size to a 5th percentile female, in 30 km/h frontal sled tests. The subjects were restrained on a rigid planar seat by bilateral rigid knee bolsters, pelvic blocks, and a custom force-limited 3-point shoulder and lap belt. Posttest subject injury assessment included identifying rib cage fractures by means of a radiologist read of a posttest computed tomography (CT) and an autopsy. The data from a motion capture camera system were processed to provide chest deflection, defined as the movement of the sternum relative to the spine at the level of T8.

?A complementary field data investigation involved querying the NASS-CDS database over the years 1997–2012. The targeted cases involved belted front seat small female passenger vehicle occupants over 40 years old who were injured in 25 to 35 km/h delta-V frontal crashes (11 to 1 o'clock).

Results: Peak upper shoulder belt tension averaged 1,970 N (SD = 140 N) in the sled tests. For all subjects, the peak x-axis deflection was recorded at the sternum with an average of ?44.5 mm or 25% of chest depth. The thoracic injury severity based on the number and distribution of rib fractures yielded 4 subjects coded as Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3 (serious) and one as AIS 5 (critical). The NASS-CDS field data investigation of small females identified 205 occupants who met the search criteria. Rib fractures were reported for 2.7% of the female occupants.

Conclusions: The small elderly test subjects sustained a higher number of rib cage fractures than expected in what was intended to be a minimally injurious frontal crash test condition. Neither field studies nor prior laboratory frontal sled tests conducted with 50th percentile male PMHS predicted the injury severity observed. Although this was a limited study, the results justify further exploration of the risk of rib cage injury for small elderly female occupants.     

空气幕技术在阻断矿井漏风中的应用

在通风系统改造过程中,应用“有效压力理论”充分利用闲置设备,自行设计制造了节能空气幕,既节省了空气幕的成品购置费用,又解决了系统的漏风问题。     

掘进面出风口风流与风幕调控下的粉尘分布响应曲面优化研究*

为了解决煤矿掘进面风筒出风口参数不能动态变化,而传统风幕全断面控尘效果不理想引起的粉尘浓度高等问题,通过分析风幕和出风口参数对粉尘分布规律的影响,以此得到合理的出风口风流与风幕综合调控方案,降低粉尘浓度。以陕西神木柠条塔煤矿N1212巷道为研究对象,利用Fluent软件建立出风口风流与风幕综合调控的粉尘场有限元模型,设计出风口风流及风幕综合调控响应曲面实验,得到最佳综合调控方案为:风幕射流出口宽度为0.16 m,风幕射流出口速度为6 m/s,出风口口径为0.9 m,出风口右偏角度为3°。搭建相似模拟实验平台来验证最佳综合调控方案,研究结果表明:调控后回风侧行人呼吸处和司机位置处粉尘平均浓度分别降低89%和81%,有效改善掘进面作业环境。     

客观看待室内空气质量问题

随着社会经济的发展、生产技术的进步和人民生活水平的提高,人们对室内工作环境和生活环境质量的认识与要求在不断的提高.人们在大力治理室外环境的同时,也越来越关注室内空气质量.室内是人们生活和工作的地方,人在室内活动的时间比室外长得多.据统计,现代人每天平均有80%～90%的时间在室内度过,每人每天需要吸入10～13m3的空气,如果室内空气质量恶劣,污染严重,会对人的身心健康造成不良影响,降低工作效率和生活质量.     

地铁区间隧道竖井送风有效风量研究*

为得到地铁区间隧道竖井送风有效风量的无量纲计算模型,通过推导地铁区间隧道竖井送风有效风量的无量纲公式,并采用数值模拟方法明确竖井送风有效风量与火源功率、火源距离、阻塞比和竖井送风量之间的量化关系。结果表明:火源功率、火源距离与竖井送风有效风量之间不存在函数关系;阻塞比对竖井送风有效风量影响显著,随着阻塞比的增大,有效风量逐渐减小,单侧列车停靠时,无量纲有效风量Qe*与阻塞比β呈-1.08次方减小关系,两侧列车停靠时,无量纲有效风量Qe*与阻塞比β呈-0.22次方减小关系;有效风量随竖井送风风量的增大逐渐增大,且有效风量增大比例高于送风风量,单侧列车停靠时,无量纲有效风量与无量纲送风风量呈1.11次方增大关系,两侧列车停靠时,无量纲有效风量与无量纲送风风量呈1.07次方增大关系。