Flex-PLI Legform

The Flex-PLI (Flexible Pedestrian Legform Impactor) simulates the flexible nature of the human leg bones. The impactor represents a 50th percentile male leg which is struck from the right side. It is fired from a linear guide into the bumper of a static vehicle at 40 km/hr for the assessment of pedestrian lower leg and knee injuries. The tibia and femur are designed as a segmented assembly mainly made from a high strength plastic with a fiber reinforced bone on the inside. The knee is a two-part design flexible at the knee joint which uses springs and stainless steel wires to simulate ligaments. The flesh is comprised of a combination of rubber and Neoprene foam sheets. Strain gauges are bonded to the bones to measure bending moments, each gauge channel set is calibrated individually to establish gauge sensitivity. The bone assemblies are also certified as sub-assemblies to biomechanical corridors.