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Hepatic injury induced by blunt abdominal impact is a major cause of death in vehicle crashes. However, few works have been done effectively in cadaver experiments to clarify the liver's specific dynamic behavior and mechanical characteristics. This paper described the dynamic behavior and mechanical characteristics of the liver under blunt impacts to the upper abdomen with the finite element model (FEM) of the Chinese human body — the 50 percentile-sized male (CHUBM-M50). The simulation matrix, three directions (frontal, oblique, lateral), and four speeds included in each group were designed with a 23.4 kg, rigid cylindrical impactor aligning the T11 level. The liver deformation contours displayed compression against the spine and rotation in the horizontal plane, which were the two main features in liver motion. Pressure distribution in the liver capsule and parenchyma was discussed to elucidate the biomechanical characteristics related to impact direction. Generally, the stress distribution in the capsule was 10 times higher than that in the parenchyma. A discussion of the injury mechanism of the liver capsule and parenchyma observed in the simulations was given upon the pressure distribution. It demonstrated that the capsule could protect liver parenchyma at low-speed impacts and should not be neglected for understanding liver injury mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite element modeling has played a significant role in the study of human body biomechanical responses and injury mechanisms during vehicle impacts. However, there are very few reports on similar studies conducted in China for the Chinese population. In this study, a high-precision human body finite element model of the Chinese 50th percentile male was developed. The anatomical structures and mechanical characteristics of real human body were replicated as precise as possible. In order to analyze the model's biofidelity in side-impact injury prediction, a global technical standard, ISO/TR 9790, was used that specifically assesses the lateral impact biofidelity of anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) and computational models. A series of model simulations, focusing on different body parts, were carried out against the tests outlined in ISO/TR 9790. Then, the biofidelity ratings of the full human body model and different body parts were evaluated using the ISO/TR 9790 rating method. In a 0-10 rating scale, the resulting rating for the full human body model developed is 8.57, which means a good biofidelity. As to different body parts, the biofidelity ratings of the head and shoulder are excellent, while those of the neck, thorax, abdomen and pelvis are good. The resulting ratings indicate that the human body model developed in this study is capable of investigating the side-impact responses of and injuries to occupants' different body parts. In addition, the rating of the model was compared with those of the other human body finite element models and several side-impact dummy models. This allows us to assess the robustness of our model and to identify necessary improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In vehicle side collisions, traumatic brain injury caused by the impact between occupant's head and the interior parts of A or B pillar is a major reason of death and disability. In order to analyze the biomechanical response and injury mechanism of occupant's brain in side collisions, a refined finite element head model representing the 50th percentile Chinese male was developed. Its improvements of biofidelity comparing to the original head model were illustrated through model simulation against the same post mortem human subjects test. Based on the refined head model, the brain biomechanical responses and injuries in the side impact with interior parts of A pillar and B pillar were analyzed according to FMVSS 201U, and the influences of different impact locations and directions were investigated. The results showed that the brain tissues on impact side sustained positive pressure and those on the opposite side experienced negative pressure. The transmission of pressure wave was easy to cause brain concussion and other diffuse brain injuries. The intracranial pressure distribution exhibited a typical pattern of contrecoup injury. The extreme stress concentration in the junction area of the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem could lead to focal injury such as brain contusion and laceration. Moreover, the impact injury of A pillar was more serious than that of B pillar, which was consistent with the traffic injury statistics that the head injury in oblique side collisions was more serious than that of vertical side collisions. Therefore, the interior parts of A pillar should be designed to absorb more energy than those of B pillar under the same conditions. In addition, the severity of brain injury is more sensitive to the variation of the horizontal angle than that of the vertical angle. Both the peak values of the occipital fossa pressure in effect simulations of the horizontal and vertical angles were three to four times of the peak values of the forehead pressure. When the impact horizontal angle was up to 255, or the vertical angle was up to 45, the head HIC(d) values would be up to 1320.45 and 1101.06, respectively, which indicated a AIS 3 injury risk of the head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human liver biomechanical responses associated with frontal impacts, lateral impacts were studied using a simplified Chinese human body Finite Element Model (FEM) with more geometrical-accurate liver model for an average Chinese adult male from high resolution CT data. The developed model in this paper was composed by geometrically detailed liver model, simplified models of thoracic-abdominal organs, and the human skeleton model. Then, the whole model was validated at various velocities by comparing simulation outcomes with Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) experimental results in frontal and lateral pendulum impacts. The force-deflection and force-time characteristics were in good agreement with the test results. The validated model was then applied for studying liver dynamic responses and injuries in simulations. Pressure, tensile stress and peak strain that may induce hepatic injuries was computed from model simulations and were analyzed about the correlation with the global parameters, like thoracic deflection, viscous criterion value, contact force. This study demonstrated that the method of developing a simplified finite element thorax-abdomen model with detailed liver model could be effective of hepatic injury assessment in various impacts reported in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occupant's pelvis is most susceptible to injuries in side collision accidents. To further investigate the pelvis biomechanical responses and injury mechanisms in side impacts, a biofidelic pelvis finite element (FE) model was created. In contrast to previous studies, the model was based directly on the CT data of a volunteer representing the 50th percentile Chinese male. Both cortical and cancellous bone were modeled with hexahedral elements. Through model validations against Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) tests, the pelvis responses and injuries under side impacts were analyzed. Meanwhile, additional simulations were carried out utilizing the validated model to study the effects of the femoral head, impactor pad and impactor velocity on pelvic injuries. The results indicated that the most frequent injury type of the pelvis is pubic rami fracture, followed by fractures of the femoral head, greater trochanter and acetabulum. In validation against the test of Guillemot et al., the critical load of pelvic fracture was 3.8 kN. In validation against the tests of Beason et al., the peak impact force under unpadded load and padded load was 4.3 kN and 3.1 kN, respectively, while the (VC)max was 0.25 m/s and 0.16 m/s, respectively. Peak impact force appears to be a reasonable criterion to assess pelvic injury. Moreover, the femoral head and impactor pad play an important role in absorbing impact energy, distributing impact load, and alleviating pelvic injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]