Pedestrians struck by a vehicle frequently sustain lower limb injuries. Moreover, the biomechanics of the lower limb under lateral impact influences the trajectory of the pedestrian and subsequent injuries to the pelvis, thorax, and head. In order to increase the understanding of injury mechanisms in the lower limb, a finite element (FE) model of the lower limb was developed. The geometry of the bones and flesh was originally obtained from the Visible Human Project Database and was scaled to a 50th percentile male. The geometry of the knee ligaments was originally obtained from the 3D-CAD-Browser Database and was scaled according to the published anatomical data to align with the bones and the corresponding insertion sites. The FE mesh consists mostly of hexahedral elements which was developed using a structural mesh generator. The material and failure properties were initially selected from the literature and were later tuned based on the validation tests. The FE model was validated using the literature data and several cadaveric component tests performed specifically for model development and evaluation. The validation tests included quasi-static and dynamic lateral three-point-bend tests of the femur and the leg with flesh, and lateral four-point-bend tests of the knee joint.
A capability for modeling and simulating frontal impact tests required by the crash sensing calibration task during the development process of a new motor vehicle is presented. The capability is applicable to the body-on-frame (BOF) vehicles such as light trucks and sport utility vehicles. Critical modeling techniques and guidelines for building a high fidelity frontal impact finite element BOF vehicle model were developed and validated using 15 full vehicle crash tests. The modeling techniques and guidelines can be used to model and simulate a suite of frontal impact sensing tests for BOF vehicles. Such a math-based capability could significantly reduce the development time and cost of a new light truck or sport utility vehicle.
An inflator simulation computer program, ISP, has been developed to facilitate the assessment of transient heat transfer models. In addition to providing for incorporation of new transient heat transfer models, this program has several other useful and unique features: 1) it allows gas to have multiple chemical components, 2) it allows gas to use temperature-dependent thermodynamic properties, 3) it can self-generate gas thermodynamic properties through linkage to a chemical kinetic package CHEMKIN, and 4) it allows the users to use either cubic spline or polynomial curve fitting to smooth the noise tank test data. This program can simulate three basic tasks: inflator tank test analysis using either the average temperature method or the dual pressure method, tank test simulation, and bag deployment analysis.
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