Improved injury prediction using HBM, step 2

Research Project, 2013 – 2014

Thoracic injuries are one of the main causes of fatalities and severe injuries in car crashes. This calls for improved restraints which, to date, are developed using virtual crash test dummies. Virtual crash test dummies can only be used in specific crash scenarios whereas mathematical models that represent the human, commonly referred to as Human Body Models (HBMs), can be used to simulate all crashes that occur in real world situations, including complex crashes with combinations of loads, e.g. oblique and small overlap crashes. Especially in early development phases it is essential to be able to evaluate and design for these needs. However, there is a lack of well-defined and accepted criteria to predict thoracic injury and threshold when using these HBMs. The objective of this project is to propose and evaluate thoracic injury criteria and injury risk curves for a state-of-the art HBM. First, injury criteria candidates will be suggested based on a literature review. Second, experimental tests with post mortem human subjects will be reconstructed using the HBM and injury risk functions will be constructed. These will then be subjected to robustness studies and evaluated by means of real world accident reconstructions. The latter will be carried out on two types of accident data; in-depth and statistical data. The high biofidelity of the HBM used and the new injury risk functions will give the Swedish vehicle and supplier industry a significant possibility to develop advanced and real-world relevant countermeasures. In addition the project results will benefit researchers world-wide that use the THUMS. This will lead to reduced suffering and societal costs due to thorax related fatalities and injuries in car crashes. Responsible for the application is Chalmers tekniska högskola (Chalmers). Involved in the project are Autoliv Development (Autoliv), Volvo Car Corporation (VCC) and Volvo Technology (VTEC). Duration of the project is 20130401 – 20141231. The total budget is SEK 3 250 000, 1 925 000 of which is being sought from the programme. The proposed project is the second step towards the aim of a HBM with the capability to predict thorax injury risk in frontal car collisions. The first step was taken as a SAFER project and was an important part in setting up a national competence platform within HBM. The present project will follow on the first part, benefiting from the platform in close collaborating with other national projects as well as international actors in the area.

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Related Areas of Advance and Infrastructure

Sustainable development

Driving Forces

Transport

Areas of Advance

C3SE (Chalmers Centre for Computational Science and Engineering)

Infrastructure

Life Science Engineering (2010-2018)

Areas of Advance

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