Administrator by China Associction for Science and Technology
Sponsored by China Society of Automotive Engineers
Published by AUTO FAN Magazine Co. Ltd.

Automotive Engineering ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5): 739-745.doi: 10.19562/j.chinasae.qcgc.2021.05.013

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research on the Response of the Elderly Driver’s Lower Limb Model in Frontal Collisions at Different Angles

Hequan Wu1,2,Jiafei Zhang1,Qifan Ren1,Lin Hu1,2()   

  1. 1.Changsha University of Science and Technology,Key Laboratory of Lightweight and Reliability Technology for Engineering Vehicle,Education Department of Hunan Province,Changsha 410004
    2.Changsha University of Science and Technology,Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology for High?performance Mechanical Equipment,Changsha 410004
  • Received:2020-09-08 Revised:2020-11-16 Online:2021-05-25 Published:2021-05-18
  • Contact: Lin Hu E-mail:hulin888@sohu.com

Abstract:

In order to study the injury of the lower limbs of elderly drivers in traffic accidents, a finite element (FE) model for the elderly lower limb is used to predict the biomechanical response of the elderly lower limbs under different working conditions in this paper. Firstly, the results of the finite element analysis on the elderly lower limb model and the cadaver test are compared, which verifies the validity of the model. Then, the knee joint of the elderly lower limb FE model verified is collided by a cylindrical impactor with a mass of 4.5 kg and a velocity of 4 m/s at different angles between the axis of thigh and the normal of the end surface of impactor in horizontal plane to explore the fracture injury of the knee?thigh?hip complex, and an impact test is also conducted with the same impactor against the knee joint with two different velocities of 3.4 and 4 m/s at an angle of 100°between the thigh and shank. The results show that for the former test, beginning with an angle of γ=-30°between the axis of thigh and the normal of the end surface of impactor, the impact force rises with the increase of the algebra value of the angle and reaches the peak at the angle of γ=+20° and then falls a bit at the final angle of γ=+30°; while for the later test, the impact force becomes larger when the impact velocity increases.

Key words: collision, elderly driver, lower limb injury, finite element model, biomechanical response