Children Cervical Injury Mechanism Research In Automobile Rear-end Collision

Rear-end collision is one of the most frequent crash modes in vehicle traffic accident; it causes neck injuries that can result in severe or fatal consequence. With the development of powerful computational capabilities, finite element models of the human neck are helpful in the understanding of the underlying neck biomechanical response and injury mechanisms, which will lead to improved prevention, diagnosis, better clinical treatment.In this research, a high bio-fidelity neck finite element model of a six-year old was developed based on the actual cervical spine geometric and anatomical data. First, the geometry of the C1-C7 cervical, first thoracic vertebra T1,16 main muscle and other soft tissues were extracted from the CT images using a medical imaging software MIMICS to form a geometric model with a triangular surface was created. Secondly, Geomagic Studio, reverse engineering software, was used to smooth and repair the geometric model to create a NURBS curves (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) CAD model. Thirdly, the CAD model was meshed into finite element model by the application of software TrueGrid and Hypermesh. Finally, according to the volunteer test, set the boundary conditions of simulation, a complete finite element model of cervical-year-old children was constructed. Model validation was completed by comparing whether model responses were consistent with experimental data.The child neck finite element model developed in the current research has higher geometric accuracy because the data source was from living human CT scan images. Since mapped mesh method was used in this study, it can control the quality and number of the mesh to enhance the precision of result and reduce computational time largely. The model was also validated by various experimental data available in literature. One of the major limitations of the current study is the lack of experimental data for biological material properties and impact responses for a rigorous model validation. Nevertheless, the neck model can be used for child neck impact biomechanical study and application.