Finite Element Analysis of Lower Extremity Fractures in Vehicle-Pedestrian Collision

Journal article, 2011

A finite element Human Body Model (HBM) of lower extremity was improved based on the geometry of human skeleton anatomy. The model consists of the pelvis, the femur, the tibia, the fibula, the patella, the foot bones, primary tendons, knee joint capsule, meniscus, and ligaments. This model is constructed using shell and solid elements also including linear spring-damper elements, it contains of 29777 nodes and 30873 elements. The whole model was validated by comparing the results of simulation with these from shearing-bending cadaver tests described in literature. Then the FE HBM of lower extremity and an existing multi-body system (MBS) human model of the pedestrian were used to reconstruct the real-world vehicle-pedestrian accident and lower limb injuries. Results of injury reconstruction show that this FE model has a good biofidelity and biomechanical response, and can be applied in research on lower limb injury mechanisms and used in the development of injury protective devices.