Finite Element Modeling of Vulnerable Populations - Toyota

FINITE ELEMENT 

MODELING OF 

VULNERABLE 

POPULATIONS 

Dr. Haojie Mao (Technical Leader) 

Ms. Christina Wagner (Co-Investigator) 

© 2011 Toyota 

PI: Dr. King H. Yang 

Wayne State University 

Bioengineering Center 

Advanced Human Modeling Laboratory

Wayne State University 

Injury Tolerance 

Automotive Safety Innovations 

Windshield Safety Glass 

3-pt Seatbelt, Airbag 

Collapsible Steering Column 

Dummy Development 

Numerical Human Body Modeling 


TOYOTA SAFETY TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR 

TOYOTA SAFETY TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR

Numerical Human Body Models Developed in Wayne State U. 

• Development of human numerical models from head to toe 

for the simulation of impact-induced injuries 

– Whole body (50%ile) 

– Head 

– Neck 

– Thorax 

– Abdomen 

– Lower extremity 

Head 

Thorax 

Hip-Thigh 

Neck 

Abdomen 

Lower Limb 




Head 

Tissue stretch under rotation 

Skull fracture 

Brain pressure 

NFL head-on impacts 


Race car driver 



Neck 

Rollover 

Whiplash 




Thorax 

Pendulum 

impact 

Cross 

sectional 

view 

Abdomen 

Aorta 




Lower Extremity 




Steps to Develop a Human FE Model 

Specimen & Test 

Imaging Technique 

Image Processing 

FE Model Construction 

Validation & Simulation 








Human Soft tissue Membrane 











CT MRI PET Ultrasound 





Data and image processing 

1 

F( 

u, 

v) 

 

MN 

f ( m, 

n) 

 

M 

 

1 N 1 

m0 

n0 

M 1 N 1 

 

u0 

v0 

f ( m, 

n) 

e 

F( 

u, 

v) 

e 

um vn 

2j 

 

M N 

um vn 

2j 

 

M N 

Image registration 



Image segmentation & visualization 






Head Neck Thorax Abdomen Whole Body 









Validation Parametric Study 








WSU CSRC Project 

• DEVELOPMENT OF 10-YEAR-OLD CHILD AND 

ELDERLY FEMALE HUMAN BODY MODELS 







NHTSA 2011-2015 2015 Priority 

• Injury causation and mechanisms analysis 

• Child biomechanics and child dummy development 

• Adult biomechanics and adult dummy development 

• Assessment of needs for older, crash-involved, vehicle 

occupants 

• Vulnerable occupant protection 

• Computer models to predict injury 

• Post-crash prediction of injury severity 




Vulnerable Populations 

• Children are not small adults! 

– Pure geometric scaling inaccurate due to developmental 

anatomical differences by age 

• Factors to consider: 

– Anatomical proportions 

– Bone ossification/growth plates 

– Tissue properties and tolerances 

Face is a smaller 

proportion of the 

head in children 

These factors can be 

investigated 

systematically using 

numerical FE models in 

multiple crash scenarios 




Child Geometry 

Child skull and brain, skeletal 

structure, and internal organs 

10 YO geometry developed as part of the Digital Child Project supported by the 

Southern Consortium for Injury Biomechanics & NHTSA 




Preliminary Child FE Results 

Low Speed Impact on 10 YO Chest (CPR) 

THUMS 50%ile male 

An intermediate step towards the developments 

of a comprehensive, detailed model representing 

the developmental stage of a 10-year-old 

End product level of 

detail (adult example) 




Key Questions to be Answered 

• How are children/elderly injured differently than adults in 

traffic accidents? 

– Development of high quality numerical child/elderly human body 

models 

– Validation of numerical models against experimental data 

– Simulation of how crash and safety restraint system affect body 

responses

Finite Element Modeling of Vulnerable Populations - Toyota

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?