The Development and Validation of a Finite Element Human Thorax Model for Automotive Impact Injury Studies

Author(s):  
Fred Chang

Abstract Computational simulations are becoming more important in automotive safety engineering. To simulate the occupants during the crash environment, dummies are currently used to represent the occupants. However, current dummies and dummy models lack the detailed information to predict the occupant injuries during a crash. And for the human thorax models, simplified geometry and non strain-rate material properties were used for the rib cage with no ability to simulate the rib fractures often seen in an automotive crash. Therefore, a detailed finite element human thorax model with proper material properties and the capability to simulate the rib fractures is needed to better understand the thoracic injuries under frontal and side impacts. The current thorax model, based on a previous skeleton model with heart and lung by Deng et al. [1]. used digital surface images to construct the three-dimensional finite element representation of the spine, rib cage, arms, surface muscles, heart, lungs, and major blood vessels. Strain-rate-dependent properties were utilized for the rib cage. With the rib fracture prediction, the model showed good correlation with the test results.

Author(s):  
Kao-Shang Shih ◽  
Thanh An Truong ◽  
Ching-Chi Hsu ◽  
Sheng-Mou Hou

AbstractRib fracture is a common injury and can result in pain during respiration. Conservative treatment of rib fracture is applied via mechanical ventilation. However, ventilator-associated complications frequently occur. Surgical fixation is another approach to treat rib fractures. Unfortunately, this surgical treatment is still not completely defined. Past studies have evaluated the biomechanics of the rib cage during respiration using a finite element method, but only intact conditions were modelled. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop a realistic numerical model of the human rib cage and to analyse the biomechanical performance of intact, injured and treated rib cages. Three-dimensional finite element models of the human rib cage were developed. Respiratory movement of the human rib cage was simulated to evaluate the strengths and limitations of different scenarios. The results show that a realistic human respiratory movement can be simulated and the predicted results were closely related to previous study (correlation coefficient>0.92). Fixation of two fractured ribs significantly decreased the fixation index (191%) compared to the injured model. This fixation may provide adequate fixation stability as well as reveal lower bone stress and implant stress compared with the fixation of three or more fractured ribs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 573-583
Author(s):  
Andreas Lutz ◽  
Lukas Huber ◽  
Claus Emmelmann

Author(s):  
Joonas Ponkala ◽  
Mohsin Rizwan ◽  
Panos S. Shiakolas

The current state of the art in coronary stent technology, tubular structures used to keep the lumen open, is mainly populated by metallic stents coated with certain drugs to increase biocompatibility, even though experimental biodegradable stents have appeared in the horizon. Biodegradable polymeric stent design necessitates accurate characterization of time dependent polymer material properties and mechanical behavior for analysis and optimization. This manuscript presents the process for evaluating material properties for biodegradable biocompatible polymeric composite poly(diol citrate) hydroxyapatite (POC-HA), approaches for identifying material models and three dimensional solid models for finite element analysis and fabrication of a stent. The developed material models were utilized in a nonlinear finite element analysis to evaluate the suitability of the POC-HA material for coronary stent application. In addition, the advantages of using femtosecond laser machining to fabricate the POC-HA stent are discussed showing a machined stent. The methodology presented with additional steps can be applied in the development of a biocompatible and biodegradable polymeric stents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arman Ahmadi ◽  
Farshid Sadeghi

Abstract In this investigation, a finite element (FE) model was developed to study the third body effects on the fretting wear of Hertzian contacts in the partial slip regime. An FE three-dimensional Hertzian point contact model operating in the presence of spherical third bodies was developed. Both first bodies and third bodies were modeled as elastic–plastic materials. The effect of the third body particles on contact stresses and stick-slip behavior was investigated. The influence of the number of third body particles and material properties including modulus of elasticity, hardening modulus, and yield strength were analyzed. Fretting loops in the presence and absence of wear particles were compared, and the relation between the number of cycles and the hardening process was evaluated. The results indicated that by increasing the number of particles in contact, more load was carried by the wear particles which affect the wear-rate of the material. In addition, due to the high plastic deformation of the debris, the wear particles deformed and took a platelet shape. Local stick-slip behavior over the third body particles was also observed. The results of having wear debris with different material properties than the first bodies indicated that harder wear particles have a higher contact pressure and lower slip at the location of particles which affects the wear-rate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 858 ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
Michael May

In the context of automotive crash simulation, rate-dependent properties are sought for all materials undergoing deformation. Measuring rate-dependent properties of adhesively bonded joints is a challenging and associated with additional cost. This article assesses the need for having rate-dependent properties of adhesively bonded joints for the example of a typical automotive structure, an adhesively bonded metallic T-joint. Using Finite Element simulation it could be shown that good agreement between experiment and simulation was only achieved if rate-dependent properties were considered for the adhesive.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1003-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianyan Wu ◽  
Qian Zhang ◽  
Bohong Gu ◽  
Baozhong Sun

This article reports the longitudinal compressive crashworthiness of three-dimensional four-step circular braided carbon/epoxy composite tubes at temperatures of 23, −50, and −100℃ under strain rate ranging from 340 to 760/s both experimentally and finite element analysis. The experimental results showed that the compression strength, stiffness, and specific energy absorption increased with the decrease in temperature and with the increase in strain rate. It also showed that, the compressive damage morphologies were sensitive to the change in temperature and strain rate. A coupled thermal-mechanical numerical analysis was conducted to find the thermo/mechanical coupling effect on the compressive crashworthiness of the three-dimensional composite tube. The temperature distributions in the braided preform and the resin during the impact compression were also calculated through finite element analysis. From the finite element analysis results, the inelastic heat generation was seen to be more in the preform than the matrix and its distribution and accumulation led to the damage progress along the loading direction.


2006 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Ellen M. Arruda

A microstructually motivated, three-dimensional, large deformation, strain rate dependent constitutive model has been developed for a semi-crystalline, blended, thermoplastic olefin (TPO) (Wang, Y., 2002, Ph.D. thesis, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI). Various experiments have been conducted to characterize the TPO and to verify the modeling approach (Wang, Y., 2002, Ph.D. thesis, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI). The model includes a quantitative rate-dependent Young’s modulus, a nonlinear viscoelastic response between initial linear elastic response and yield due to inherent microstructural irregularity, rate and temperature dependent yield with two distinctive yield mechanisms for low and high strain rates, temperature-dependent strain hardening, plastic deformation of crystalline regions, and adiabatic heating. It has been shown to accurately capture the observed TPO stress-strain behavior including the rate-dependent initial linear elastic response; temperature, strain rate, and deformation state-dependent yield; temperature and deformation state-dependent strain hardening; and pronounced thermal softening effects at high (impact) strain rates. The model has also been examined for its ability to predict the response in plane strain compression based on material parameters chosen to capture the uniaxial compression response. The model is predictive of the initial strain rate dependent stiffness, yield, and strain hardening responses in plane strain. Such predictive capability demonstrates the versatility with which this model captures the three-dimensional anisotropic nature of TPO stress-strain behavior.


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