Title: Child neck FE model development and validation

Authors: F. Meyer, S. Roth, R. Willinger

Addresses: Strasbourg University, ULP-CNRS 7507, 2 rue Boussingault, 67000 Strasbourg, France. ' Strasbourg University, ULP-CNRS 7507, 2 rue Boussingault, 67000 Strasbourg, France. ' Strasbourg University, ULP-CNRS 7507, 2 rue Boussingault, 67000 Strasbourg, France

Abstract: Despite recent progresses in occupant safety, the protection of children is not still optimal. To offer a better understanding of child injury mechanisms, the present study proposes a human-like finite element model of a three-years-old child|s neck. Based on child neck scanner slices, an original and realistic meshing was developed. For validation purposes, the FEM response was superimposed with time corridors available in the literature for different impact cases, which have been scaled down using adapted scale factors from Irwin and Mertz (1997).

Keywords: finite element method; FEM; neck modelling; scaling method; child biomechanics; occupant safety; child protection; car accidents; child injury; human factors; simulation; automobile accidents; automotive injuries; children.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFMS.2008.022479

International Journal of Human Factors Modelling and Simulation, 2008 Vol.1 No.2, pp.244 - 257

Published online: 08 Jan 2009 *

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