Effective thoracic mass is an important parameter in specifying mathematical and mechanical models (such as crash dummies) of humans exposed to impact conditions. A method is developed using a numerical optimizer to determine effective thoracic mass (and mass distribution) given a number of acceleration signals and a force signal response. Utilizing previously reported lateral and frontal impact tests with human cadaveric test specimens in a number of different conditions, the effective

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... mass is computed. The effective thoracic masses are then computed for a variety of crash dummies exposed to identical test conditions.