THOMO

Development of a Finite Element Model of the Human Thorax and Upper Extremities

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'In 2004, in the European Union, there were 42193 road fatalities and 1213300 accidents involving injuries. The socio-economic cost of road crashes to the EU 15 is twice the EU’s annual budget. The number of casualties is so important that it shall be reduced by all the available ways. Presently, the vehicle safety devices used as prevention tools shall be improved, since they were developed in an outdated context, for a mean person and a limited area of application. Numerical human body models could be used instead of anthropomorphic dummies to assess injury risks in different accident scenarios, to adapt accordingly vehicles and then regulations. The present project proposes to give to passive safety players a tool capable of assessing real safety. It aims to create and maintain biofidelic finite element models of the human thorax including upper extremities based on the research, development, and validation of the models for the 5th, 50th, and 95th percentile of each gender. It is based on the following steps: * development and maintenance of a biomechanical database of post-mortem human subject tests at the segment (thorax) and organ (heart, lungs, aorta) levels with the necessity to define the mechanical validation criteria of the model and to improve the knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of the organs and of the mechanical and geometrical properties of the rib cage; * development of numerical models from the CAD data with the necessity to personalize these data, to define a model architecture allowing its validation at the mechanical and injury levels and to quantify the numerical and mechanical consequences at the fracture level; * mechanical and injury validation of the thorax and of the upper extremities with tests coming from the literature or performed during the project. This project fits into a worldwide project, called Global Human Body Model, which aims to create and maintain the world’s most biofidelic human body models.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Crash-test dummies don't always respond to car crashes the way humans do, yet they are vital to designing cars that protect us during collisions. Because of this, the EU has invested in a new way of crash-testing that uses real human body modelling.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

One of the EU's top priorities is to reduce casualties resulting from over a million road accidents each year. Such accidents amount to EUR 130 million annually.

To address this kind of road carnage worldwide, car manufacturers have initiated the 'Global human body model' (GHBM) project as a joint effort between research, testing, regulation and information dissemination. The EU-funded project 'Development of a finite element model of the human thorax and upper extremities' (THOMO) has contributed to the international effort by developing a numerical model of the human thorax. The thorax is the part of the body between the head and abdomen.

The model was created using over a hundred sensors on each of 18 post-mortem humans to fully map the geometry of the thorax. To define the material properties of the model, the THOMO team performed various tensile and stress tests.

Their results have defined new 'biofidelity' targets for crash-test dummies. In other words, knowing how bodies of different shapes and sizes respond to impact can help to create crash-test dummies that are realistic and representative of different populations.

This research will not just be useful in road safety. Another of the programme's goals is to halve the number of rail fatalities by 2020.

In the meantime, the team is working on optimising the system to use geometry and soft tissue impact data to personalise the models even further.