Influence of the Musculotendon Dynamics on the Muscle Force-Sharing Problem of the Shoulder—A Fully Inverse Dynamics Approach

Most dynamic simulations are based on inverse dynamics, being the time-dependent physiological nature of the muscle properties rarely considered due to numerical challenges. Since the influence of muscle physiology on the consistency of inverse dynamics simulations remains unclear, the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the computational efficiency and biological validity of four musculotendon models that differ in the simulation of the muscle activation and contraction dynamics. Inverse dynamic analyses are performed using a spatial musculoskeletal model of the upper limb. The muscle force-sharing problem is solved for five repetitions of unloaded and loaded motions of shoulder abduction and shoulder flexion. The performance of the musculotendon models is evaluated by comparing muscle activation predictions with electromyography (EMG) signals, measured synchronously with motion for 11 muscles, and the glenohumeral joint reaction forces estimated numerically with those measured in vivo. The results show similar muscle activations for all muscle models. Overall, high cross-correlations are computed between muscle activations and the EMG signals measured for all movements analyzed, which provides confidence in the results. The glenohumeral joint reaction forces estimated compare well with those measured in vivo, but the influence of the muscle dynamics is found to be negligible. In conclusion, for slow-speed, standard movements of the upper limb, as those studied here, the activation and musculotendon contraction dynamics can be neglected in inverse dynamic analyses without compromising the prediction of muscle and joint reaction forces.

Brake force sharing to improve lateral stability while regenerative braking in a turn

In electric and hybrid vehicles, regenerative braking is applied only at the driven wheels by the electric drive, whereas the non-driven wheels are not subjected to brake force during the pure regenerative braking mode. The application of pure regenerative brake may affect the vehicle’s lateral stability during a turn. The impact could be more severe when the pure regenerative brake is applied at the turn on the rear wheels (for a rear wheel drive vehicle) over a low friction road surface. As part of a solution to reduce this impact, a brake force sharing (BFS) strategy between regenerative and friction brake has been proposed in this paper, which improves the brake force distribution between front and rear wheels to ensure a stable turn. The vehicle model and the BFS strategy were developed, and the IPG Car Maker® software was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. The simulation results on BFS strategy have been corroborated using experimental data collected from a test vehicle. Further, a closed loop control structure was developed for implementing the proposed BFS strategy in electric and hybrid vehicles.