Facilities & Services
Impact Biomechanics Facilities
UMTRI's biomedical and impact laboratories include state-of-the-art facilities for handling and testing biological materials and human surrogates. The laboratories include a pneumatically-actuated pendulum impactor for delivering controlled impact loading to test dummies and other test surrogates, facilities for conducting static airbag deployment tests to investigate the biomechanics and injury mechanisms of airbag-induced injuries in simulated automotive environments, an Instron compression/tension testing machine, and a dynamic tissue test device for studying quasi-static and dynamic loading properties of biological tissues and synthetic materials. The airbag test facility includes a test platform with an adjustable support structure that allows a driver-side airbag module and steering-wheel assembly to be positioned and oriented as needed. The platform is also equipped with interchangeable fixtures for positioning a variety of test specimens that have been appropriately instrumented or targeted to quantify and assess airbag-deployment parameters and specimen response and injury. Airbags are triggered using a TDAS timing module, which records the current and voltage applied to the airbag module and provides feedback as to whether the airbag stages successfully deployed. Portable lighting and high-speed-camera systems document airbag deployment kinematics at up to 6000 frames per second, and a special venting system exhausts airbag gases from the laboratory.
UMTRI's impact facilities also include a high-speed x-ray system for documenting internal skeletal kinematics during impact. In addition, a radiographic laboratory provides for x-ray analysis of biological specimens before and after testing, and portable x-ray units allow for checking skeletal injuries to test subjects at the test facility. A surgical/autopsy laboratory, equipped with overhead surgical lights and a Mopec pivoting autopsy table, is used for preparation and analysis of test specimens, and a portable morgue and associated freezers allow for storage of biological materials as needed for test setup and subsequent tissue analysis and autopsy.