NUMERICAL HUMAN MODEL FOR IMPACT AND SEATING COMFORT

摘要

This paper presents a detailed numerical model of the human body that can be used to evaluate both safety and comfort aspects of vehicle interiors. The model is based on a combination of rigid body and finite element techniques to provide an optimal combination of computational efficiency and accuracy. All main articulations are implemented and the skin is modelled in detail to provide accurate interactions with the vehicle interior, such as seat, belts, and airbag. The biofidelity of the model has been verified extensively for both crash safety and seating comfort loading, using volunteer and PMHS data. Detailed models of various body parts can be incorporated to study the response of these body parts in more detail. The human models has been used to study and improve vehicle passive safety design for a range of accident scenarios, in particular for those loading scenarios where the current crash dummies are considered insufficiently biofidelic. Ongoing developments include further enhancement of scalability, injury predictive capabilities, and modularity of detailed component models. The human model is aimed to provide a virtual testing tool for integrated safety and ergonomics design. The human model could also be applied in sports and personal protection design.