Cross-sectional neck response of a total human body FE model during simulated frontal and side automobile impacts

Abstract

Human body finite element (FE) models are beginning to play a more prevalent role in the advancement of automotive safety. A methodology has been developed to evaluate neck response at multiple levels in a human body FE model during simulated automotive impacts. Three different impact scenarios were simulated: a frontal impact of a belted driver with airbag deployment, a frontal impact of a belted passenger without airbag deployment and an unbelted side impact sled test. Cross sections were created at each vertebral level of the cervical spine to calculate the force and moment contributions of different anatomical components of the neck. Adjacent level axial force ratios varied between 0.74 and 1.11 and adjacent level bending moment ratios between 0.55 and 1.15. The present technique is ideal for comparing neck forces and moments to existing injury threshold values, calculating injury criteria and for better understanding the biomechanical mechanisms of neck injury and load sharing during sub-injurious and injurious loading.

Keywords::

• finite element methods
• cross section
• cervical spine
• neck
• biomechanics
• injury

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Global Human Body Models Consortium for use of the 50th percentile seated male FE model and the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for funding this research. The authors specially thank Mr Adam Golman for his advice on cross-sectional implementation and Mr Nicholas Vavalle for his work on the GHBMC model. All computations were done on the Wake Forest University DEAC Cluster, a centrally managed resource with support provided in part by the University.

Notes

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^3. Email: [email protected]