Hello, world! VIVA+ : a human body model lineup to evaluate sex-differences in crash protection

John, Jobin D. (author), Klug, Corina (author), Kranjec, Matej (author), Svenning, Erik (author), Iraeus, Johan (author)

Finite element Human Body Models are increasingly becoming vital tools for injury assessment and are expected to play an important role in virtual vehicle safety testing. With the aim of realizing models to study sex-differences seen in the injury- and fatality-risks from epidemiology, we developed models that represent an average female and an average male. The models were developed with an objective to allow tissue-based skeletal injury assessment, and thus non-skeletal organs and joints were defined with simplified characterizations to enhance computational efficiency and robustness. The model lineup comprises female and male representations of (seated) vehicle occupants and (standing) vulnerable road users, enabling the safety assessment of broader segments of the road user population. In addition, a new workflow utilized in the model development is presented. In this workflow, one model (the seated female) served as the base model while all the other models were generated as closely-linked derivative models, differing only in terms of node coordinates and mass distribution. This approach opens new possibilities to develop and maintain further models as part of the model lineup, representing different types of road users to reflect the ongoing transitions in mobility patterns (like bicyclists and e-scooter users). In this paper, we evaluate the kinetic and kinematic responses of the occupant and standing models to blunt impacts, mainly on the torso, in different directions (front, lateral, and back). The front and lateral impacts to the thorax showed responses comparable to the experiments, while the back impact varied with the location of impact (T1 and T8). Abdomen bar impact showed a stiffer load-deflection response at higher intrusions beyond 40 mm, because of simplified representation of internal organs. The lateral shoulder impact responses were also slightly stiffer, presumably from the simplified shoulder joint definition. This paper is the first in a series describing the development and validation of the new Human Body Model lineup, VIVA+. With the inclusion of an average-sized female model as a standard model in the lineup, we seek to foster an equitable injury evaluation in future virtual safety assessments.

• Language: English
• Keywords: finite element model, sex-differences, injury assessment, road safety, virtual testing, human body model, open source, open access
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.07.2022
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 19 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-141036
• UDC: 519.62:004.94:519.876.5
• ISSN on article: 2296-4185
• DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.918904
• COBISS.SI-ID: 122421763
• Publication date in RUL: 22.09.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology
• Shortened title: Front. bioeng. biotechnol.
• Publisher: Frontiers Media
• ISSN: 2296-4185
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523093017

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: modeliranje s končnimi elementi, razlike med spoloma, vrednotenje poškodb, prometna varnost, virtualno testiranje, model človeškega telesa, odprti dostop, odprta koda

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: H2020
• Project number: 768960
• Name: Open access virtual testing protocols for enhanced road users safety
• Acronym: VIRTUAL