A PARAMETRIC STUDY ON INJURIES TO THE KNEE-THIGH-HIP COMPLEX USING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL FE MODEL OF THE HUMAN BODY AND KNEE AIRBAG

摘要

Although extensive biomechanical studies have been conducted on the knee-thigh-hip (KTH) complex to improve our understanding of its injury mechanisms, injury risks to the KTH complex due to the knee airbag have not been characterized so far. In this study, a detailed three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model of a 50th percentile male KTH complex was integrated into a previously developed torso model and used to simulate frontal crashes with and without a generic knee airbag. The FE model of the KTH complex explicitly represented the ilium, ischium, sacrum, articular cartilage, femoral head, femoral neck, femoral shaft, femoral condyles, patella, patella tendon, and the rest of the leg. The Design of Experiments (DOE) method based on Taguchi's approach was adopted in this study. The three vehicular interior design parameters considered were knee airbag pressure, knee airbag volume and impact speed. Each of these parameters were assigned three design levels to simulated to predict their respective effects on the potential of KTH injury in a frontal impact.