Biomechanical analysis of human thorax and abdomen during automotive impact

Abstract

Injuries incurred to occupant during automotive frontal crashes range from every part of the human body, and especially for the thorax and abdomen. It’s indeed to learn more about the impact biomechanical mechanism of human body in order to improve the impact safety of vehicles to protect the occupant. In this study, a previously developed finite model of Chinese 50th percentile male thorax and abdomen is used to study the biomechanical response under frontal impact. The stress-time, strain-time characteristics are analyzed. Quantitative results such deflection curve are obtained and indicate that the 6.7 m/s frontal impact leads to large deflection and stress which will damage the ribs, lungs and other organs. Since the experimental study with human cadavers is difficult to proceed, this finite element model based on the anthropometric data from Chinese 50th percentile male can be used to analyze the biomechanical response during automotive impact in order to improve the automotive impact safety.