A prestudy of the potential of using finite element analysis for understanding horse accidents

Report, 2015

This prestudy is an investigation into the potential of using the THUMS [5] model and LS-Dyna [6] simulations to understand the risk of thorax injury in horse related accidents such as horse kicks, tramples, falls from horse backs or rotational falls. A simple model of a security vest was also developed for the THUMS model, to facilitate injury risk comparisons with and without the vest. The severity of thorax injuries was quantified by measuring local stresses and strains in the cortical bone of the ribs, as well as the total deformation of the thorax, measured with Dmax and DcTHOR [2]. This prestudy attempt to answer five questions: • What is the worst location on the chest to be trampled by a horse with respect to rib fractures? • How does the stiffness of the ground compound affect the risk of rib fractures when trampled by a horse? • How does the risk of thorax injuries vary when falling off a horseback in different angles? • How does the momentum of a horse kick affect the risk of thorax injury on the THUMS model with and without a protective vest? • How can a rotational fall be modelled and how severe is the injury outcome? Simulations were set up in LS-Dyna with the THUMS model representing the human body with different environments built up around it representing the scenarios in the five questions. The structure of the report follows the five questions through both the method and results sections.