Date of Award

Fall 2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Director

Sebastian Bawab

Committee Member

Stephen Cupschalk

Committee Member

Abdelmageed A. Elmustafa

Call Number for Print

Special Collection; LD4331.E56 K33 2005

Abstract

According to the National Safety Council, rear-end collisions are the most common types of collisions with approximately two and a half million cases reported every year. Crash tests indicate a change of vehicle velocity of 4km/h (2.5 mph) may produce occupant symptoms. Vehicle damage may not occur until 14-15km/h (8.7 mph) (Davis CG, 1998). Occupants, in rear-end vehicle impacts sustain a motion associated with whiplash, where the head snaps backwards quickly, resulting in linear and/or angular acceleration forces acting on the brain. This angular motion tends to subject the brain to shear deformations from rapid rotation. This study is a continuation of previous work, which was carried out to evaluate the effects of initial seated position (ISP) during a low speed rear-end impact (Venkataramana et al., 2005). A modified dummy model is built by coupling the FE (Finite Element) human brain model developed by TNO MADYMO (MAthematical DYnamic MOdel) (Claessens et. al., 1997) to the Hybrid III 50th percentile TRID (TNO Rear Impact Dummy) (MADYMO 6.0 Database manual-Hybrid III 50th percentile Dummy with TRID neck).

The study is carried out in different parts. Firstly, a coupled brain dummy model is compared to the head acceleration results of the Hybrid III-TRID dummy. The comparison is based on the four seating positions, namely Normal Position (NP), Torsolean Position (TLP), Torsolean Head-Flex Position (TLHFP) and Head-Flex Position (HFP). Secondly, an effort is made to modify the brain model as to study the response by varying the skull-brain interface condition. Lastly, results for different parts of the brain such as calculating the head injury criterion (HIC), shear stresses and shear strains along with von-Mises stresses in the coup, contercoup regions for the cases in the first and second parts are presented.

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DOI

10.25777/6d3k-cp34

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