Abstract-For the determination of material parameters, it is a common practice to extract specimens with well-defined geometries. The design of the samples and the choice of the applied load are meant to lead to a homogeneous stress and strain distribution in a part of the sample. When applied to biological materials, this raises a number of problems: homogeneous strains cannot be obtained because the materials have inhomogeneous properties, and the manufacturing of samples is hard or sometimes impossible. In this technical note a different approach is presented, based on the use of a digital image technique for the measurement of nonhomogeneous strain distributions, finite element modeling and the use of a minimumvariance estimator. The method is tested by means of experiments on an orthotropic elastic membrane of a woven and calendered textile. Five parameters are identified using the experimental data of one single experiment.

Established in 1997, the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) provides consumers with a safety performance assessment for the majority of the most popular cars in Europe. Thanks to its rigorous crash tests, Euro NCAP has rapidly become an important driver safety improvement to new cars. After ten years of rating vehicles, Euro NCAP felt that a change was necessary to stay in tune with rapidly emerging driver assistance and crash avoidance systems and to respond to shifting priorities in road safety. A new overall rating system was introduced that combines the most important aspects of vehicle safety under a single star rating. The overall rating system has allowed Euro NCAP to continue to push for better fitment and higher performance for vehicles sold on the European market. In the coming years, the safety rating is expected to play an important role in the support of the roll-out of highly automated vehicles.

The WorldSID project is a global effort to design a new generation side impact crash test dummy under the direction of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The first WorldSID crash dummy will represent a world-harmonized mid-size adult male. This paper discusses the research and rationale undertaken to define the anthropometry of a world standard midsize male in the typical automotive seated posture. Various anthropometry databases are compared region by region and in terms of the key dimensions needed for crash dummy design. The Anthropometry for Motor Vehicle Occupants (AMVO) dataset, as established by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), is selected as the basis for the WorldSID mid-size male, updated to include revisions to the pelvis bone location. The proposed mass of the dummy is 77.3kg with full arms. The rationale for the selected mass is discussed. The joint location and surface landmark database is appended to this paper.

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