Geometric and Kinematic Validation Studies in the Thoracic and Abdominal Regions of a Detailed Human-Body Finite Element Model

Abstract

Mortality and morbidity rates associated with motor vehicle crash remain a leading public health problem in the United States and worldwide, with approximately 31,000 deaths in the United States and 1.2 million worldwide annually. Given these statistics, there is a need to improve vehicle safety countermeasures. Researchers and engineers use a number of tools to accomplish this goal, but the studies in this thesis focus on one in particular; computational modeling of the human body designed for predicting injury in simulated crash events. The use of human body finite element (FE) models to examine the body's kinematic and kinetic response in automobile crash has begun to gain popularity in the study of biomechanics. As the use of these finite element models increases, it is critical that the model response is validated to ensure accurate results. In this work, data from the Global Human Body Models Consortium (GHBMC) project is used in two ways. First, image data of various individuals is used to examine abdominal organ location, movement, and rib coverage as a result of posture. Secondly, the GHBMC mid-sized male (M50) model is used in a computational study focusing on a methodology for extracting and analyzing virtual chestband data.