Human Effectiveness Directorate

PROTECTING AIRCREW. ADVANCING SURVIVABILITY.
Biomechanical research for the modern warfighter — injury mitigation through crash testing, ejection dynamics, and vibration exposure.

The Biodynamics Team is a specialized research unit within AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing, Human Effectiveness Directorate, based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Its mission is to protect Air Force aircrew by developing and optimizing injury criteria and advanced protective equipment for use in high-stress flight environments. The team achieves this by studying the effects of impact and acceleration forces on instrumented Anthropometric Test Devices (ATDs), volunteer human subjects, and Post-Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) in controlled settings. Findings from this research are transitioned into validated injury criteria and equipment performance data used to inform Air Force safety standards and guide the design of aircraft systems. Ultimately, the Biodynamics Team’s work enhances warfighter safety and survivability by improving ejection seat designs, aircrew restraint systems, and helmet technologies to mitigate neck and spine injuries in high-performance, bomber, and heavy-lift aircraft.

711 HPW / RH / BIODYNAMICS LAB
Email:
AFRLBiodynamicsLab@us.af.mil

Address:
2800 Ascani St.
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433

Human Performance Technologies

Horizontal Impulse Accelerator (HIA)
The Horizontal Impulse Accelerator is a 160-foot sled track designed to replicate crash, ejection, and landing events experienced by aircrew. It supports the controlled acceleration of test sleds carrying ATDs or human subjects to evaluate safety systems, structural integrity, and occupant injury risk under high-speed conditions. The HIA is the only known facility of its kind capable of conducting biodynamic testing on both instrumented dummies and human volunteers.

Key Features:
- Simulates single- and multi-axis acceleration events
- Evaluates aircrew seat systems, restraints, and personal equipment
- Supports live human subject testing under controlled conditions
- Recently used in collaboration with NASA for Orion/Artemis crew seat impact studies
- Enables cost-effective, repeatable lab-based testing for injury risk and mitigation
AFRL HIA Impact Acceleration Facility with Human Subject (Left) and ATD (Right) and Sled in Stationary Position Prior to Start of Impact to Accelerate ATD Down the Track.
Vertical Deceleration Tower (VDT)
The Vertical Deceleration Tower is a 50-foot drop tower used to simulate vertical impact events such as hard landings or crash decelerations. It enables the testing of restraint systems, energy-absorbing seats, and structural components by delivering controlled downward impacts on ATDs or equipment. The VDT plays a key role in validating survivability standards and improving occupant protection.

Key Features:
- Simulates downward shock loads representative of aircraft or spacecraft landings
- Evaluates seats, harnesses, and occupant-protection systems
- Supports ATD instrumentation and injury prediction models
- Enables controlled drop parameters for reproducible impact scenarios
- Used in testing with NASA and aerospace industry partners
AFRL VDT Impact Facility with ATD Subject Prior to Raising Drop Carriage(Left), and Carriage with ATD at Required Drop Height Prior to Free-Fall (Right)
Vertical Impact Device (VID)
The Vertical Impact Device is a 16.5-foot test system that delivers short-duration, high-energy vertical impacts. It is used to assess energy attenuation properties of aircraft seating and safety systems under severe crash-like conditions. The VID allows researchers to analyze structural deformation, sensor data, and biofidelity during high-force events.

Key Features:
- Ideal for testing energy-attenuating cushions and seat base designs
- Delivers rapid, high-force impacts to simulate crash environments
- Assesses structural integrity and injury mitigation performance
- Supports testing of commercial and military aircrew seat systems
- Frequently used in coordination with industry for certification testing
AFRL VID Impact Facility with Carriage and ATD Subject at Required Drop Height Prior to Free-Fall (Left), and Close-up of Felt Impact Attenuators (Right).
Vertical Impulse Accelerator (VIA)
The Vertical Impulse Accelerator is a 25-foot twin-rail launcher that simulates upward shock events by rapidly propelling a test carriage vertically. It is uniquely suited to evaluate seats, restraints, and protective systems in scenarios such as shipboard or amphibious vehicle landings. VIA has been instrumental in helping the U.S. Navy validate impact performance of its next-generation crew seating.

Key Features:
- Simulates high-speed upward impulse events
- Supports shock testing for aircraft and watercraft applications
- Evaluates protective seating and energy-absorbing technologies
- Used in testing for Navy Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) programs
- Allows for precise, repeatable acceleration profiles
AFRL VIA Impact Acceleration Facility with ATD Subject in Test Seat and Carriage in Stationary Position Prior to Start of Impact to Accelerate ATD Up the Rails.
Six Degree of Freedom (SIXMODE) Vibration System
The SIXMODE system is a fully integrated vibration platform capable of reproducing complex, multi-axis vibration patterns experienced in operational aircraft, ground vehicles, and ships. It enables researchers to assess the effects of vibration on human performance, equipment durability, and long-term musculoskeletal health.

Key Features:
- Simulates full 6-axis motion: X, Y, Z + roll, pitch, yaw
- Supports exposure testing for seats, gear, and full-body systems
- Used to study muscle fatigue, postural stress, and spinal load
- Helps develop damping strategies for rotary-wing and tilt-rotor aircraft
- Critical for fatigue mitigation research in extended operations
AFRL SIXMODE Vibration Facility setup for Spine Immobilization Study (left), Vibration Facility with Human Subject being prepared for test.
Collaborations
The Biodynamics Team actively collaborates with military, government, and industry partners to enhance research outcomes and transition technology to the field:
- Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC): Close partnership to ensure that research findings and injury criteria feed directly into Air Force equipment standards, acquisition programs, and certification processes for new aircrew systems.
- NASA: Joint testing efforts in support of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Artemis missions. AFRL’s Biodynamics Team worked with NASA engineers to evaluate astronaut flight suits and crew seat designs using the HIA and VDT facilities, examining how spaceflight landing impacts across all axes affect crew safety.
- U.S. Navy: Collaboration on naval aircrew protection, including working with the Navy’s Amphibious Warfare Program Office to assess shock-mitigating pilot and crew seats for the Ship-to-Shore Connector. The team also partnered with Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton (NAMRU-D) to investigate how operational aircraft vibrations contribute to aircrew musculoskeletal injuries, providing data to inform Navy and Marine Corps rotorcraft guidelines.
- Industry Partners: Engagements with defense industry leaders to test and improve safety equipment. For example, the team partnered with Collins Aerospace to conduct impact assessments on advanced pilot seat designs (incorporating energy-attenuation systems), using the VID facility to validate that these seats can protect aircrew under extreme vertical impact conditions. These industry collaborations accelerate the transition of innovative safety technologies to operational use.

Multidirectional Impact Testing
Conducting controlled impact acceleration experiments in both horizontal and vertical axes using specialized sled tracks and drop towers. This capability allows the team to recreate ejection, crash, and landing scenarios to evaluate aircrew systems under realistic high-G forces.
Biomechanical Injury Assessment
Developing and validating aircrew injury criteria through analysis of human and surrogate responses to impact. The team equips Anthropometric Test Devices (ATDs) and human volunteer subjects with precision sensors to collect data on how the human body responds to sudden acceleration, enabling science-based predictions of injury risk.
Protective Equipment Evaluation
Testing and assessing the performance of critical aircrew safety equipment – including ejection seats, harness/restraint configurations, and helmet systems – under dynamic conditions. These evaluations determine structural integrity and injury mitigation effectiveness for current and next-generation equipment.
Data-Driven Standards Development
Providing expert data analysis and scientific evidence to inform military safety standards and requirements. The Biodynamics Team supplies Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) and other stakeholders with validated criteria and recommendations to guide the integration of new protective technologies into aircraft.
Specialized Test Support Services
Offering extensive test and measurement services to external partners. The team supports high-speed ejection seat rocket-sled trials and other external impact tests by providing instrumented ATDs, data acquisition systems, and injury analysis expertise. It also offers ATD rental programs, precision sensor calibration (accelerometers, angular rate sensors, load cells), and a full suite of mass property measurements for aerospace equipment (weight, center-of-gravity, and moments of inertia). In addition, advanced 3D anthropometry tools (full-body scanners and 3D metrology arms) are available for detailed human body modeling and component geometry capture.

Aircrew Crash Safety & Ejection Dynamics
Investigating the biomechanical effects of aircraft ejections, crash landings, and other high-impact events on pilots and crew. This focus area aims to improve ejection seat design, cockpit configurations, and post-crash survival outcomes by understanding injury mechanisms during extreme accelerations.
Injury Biomechanics and Criteria Development
Studying human tolerance to acceleration and impact to establish quantitative injury thresholds for critical regions like the neck and spine. By analyzing data from ATDs, human subjects, and PMHS, the team refines the injury criteria that define safe limits and inform the design of protective gear and flight regulations.
Protective Equipment Optimization
Enhancing the design and effectiveness of aircrew protective equipment. Research targets improvements in helmets (impact energy absorption, head-neck support), restraint systems (belts, harnesses, airbags), and other personal equipment to reduce the likelihood and severity of injuries in both routine and emergency operations.
Whole-Body Vibration and Fatigue Mitigation
Examining the long-term effects of sustained, multi-axis vibration on aircrew performance and health. Through vibration exposure studies (e.g. simulating rotary-wing and tilt-rotor aircraft conditions), the team analyzes factors like acceleration profiles, exposure duration, and muscle fatigue to identify how chronic vibration contributes to issues such as lower back disorders. Insights from this research guide the development of damping technologies and protocols to mitigate fatigue and musculoskeletal injury during extended missions.

Who We Are
The Biodynamics Team is a multidisciplinary unit with over 200 years of collective expertise in impact biomechanics, aircrew survivability, computational modeling, and protective system development. The team integrates operational insight, scientific rigor, and engineering innovation to support dynamic testing and safety standard advancement.

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs):
- Biomechanical and Biomedical Engineers with expertise in dynamic testing, injury mitigation, and safety system design
- Manikin and Instrumentation Technicians skilled in the preparation, calibration, and maintenance of anthropometric test devices (ATDs)
- Computational Modeler specializing in predictive human body simulations under high-impact scenarios
- Aircrew Flight Equipment Specialists ensuring proper integration, inspection, and operational readiness of safety gear and restraints
- Aerospace Medical Service Technicians providing medical oversight and emergency response capabilities during live human subject testing.
Together, this team delivers full-spectrum research support—from test planning and instrumentation to advanced modeling and data analysis—ensuring actionable outcomes for aircrew protection and mission success.

Max Grattan, right, Biodynamics Laboratory technical support contractor with Infoscitex, conducts 3D surface scanning of a U.S. Air Force volunteer on the horizontal sled test facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Nov. 3, 2023, to test the next replica of a seat and flight suit for the Orion space capsule. Researchers with the AFRL Human Effectiveness Directorate tested equipment for the Orion space capsule’s upcoming mission to the moon. (U.S. Air Force photo / Richard Eldridge)

A U.S. Air Force volunteer tests the next replica of a flight suit and seat for the Orion space capsule in the drop tower facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Nov. 3, 2023. Researchers with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Human Effectiveness Directorate tested equipment along with NASA for the Orion space capsule’s upcoming mission to the moon. (U.S. Air Force photo / Richard Eldridge)

A U.S. Air Force volunteer, who tests the next replica of a flight suit and seat for the Orion space capsule, is strapped into the seat in the drop tower facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Nov. 3, 2023. Researchers with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Human Effectiveness Directorate tested equipment along with NASA for the Orion space capsule’s upcoming mission to the moon. (U.S. Air Force photo / Richard Eldridge)

An Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, team and NASA prepare a U.S. Air Force volunteer on the horizontal sled test facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Oct. 23, 2023, to test the next replica of a seat and flight suit for the Orion space capsule. Researchers with the AFRL Human Effectiveness Directorate tested equipment for the Orion space capsule’s upcoming mission to the moon. (U.S. Air Force photo / Richard Eldridge)

A U.S. Air Force volunteer with the Biodynamics Laboratory tests the next replica of a seat and flight suit for the Orion space capsule and NASA on the horizontal sled test facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Oct. 23, 2023. Researchers with the Air Force Research Laboratory Human Effectiveness Directorate tested equipment for the Orion space capsule’s upcoming mission to the moon. (U.S. Air Force photo / Richard Eldridge)

Max Grattan, Biodynamics Laboratory technical support contractor with Infoscitex, conducts 3D surface scanning of a U.S. Air Force volunteer on the horizontal sled test facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Oct. 23, 2023, to test the next replica of a seat and flight suit for the Orion space capsule. Researchers with the AFRL Human Effectiveness Directorate tested equipment for the Orion space capsule’s upcoming mission to the moon. (U.S. Air Force photo / Richard Eldridge)

An Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, team works with NASA and a U.S. Air Force volunteer on the horizontal sled test facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Oct. 23, 2023, to test the next replica of a seat and flight suit for the Orion space capsule. Researchers with the AFRL Human Effectiveness Directorate tested equipment for the Orion space capsule’s upcoming mission to the moon. (U.S. Air Force photo / Richard Eldridge)

BIODYNAMICS LAB

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