Abstract
KEYWORDS
Modeling, Human Body, Vehicle, Accident, Simulation
ABSTRACT
The present paper comes at a time when biomechanical finite element simulations of accidental injuries are starting to be considered realistic means of obtaining refined information on occupant injuries by the research and development departments of car companies, i.e., when the subject is about to transit from the realm of academic research at universities and government laboratories to industry. Reasons for this progression are found in the continued general progression of numerical simulation techniques and software packages, the growing efficiency of computer hardware platforms and code architecture that permit to envisage numerical models of sufficient detail and complexity, the growing databases and improved techniques for the fabrication of geometrical and material data and models, more accidentological and trauma data, and the general recognition that simulation is the only practical way to include and obtain mammalian occupant response in the crashworthy design of transport vehicles, which constitutes perhaps the ultimate consecration of this discipline.