Work

Enhancing Crash Safety Analysis Through Female-Specific Head Modeling: Application of FeFEHM in Traffic Accident Reconstructions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant public health concern and its rising prevalence in road traffic accidents underscores the need for deeper understanding and tailored investigation. This study explores the feasibility of employing the female finite element head model (FeFEHM) to analyse biomechanical responses in two distinct road traffic accident scenarios, focusing on strain and stress distribution in critical brain structures. Two collision scenarios from the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) were reconstructed using validated Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) simulations. The extracted skull kinematics were applied to the FeFEHM in ABAQUS to compute maximum principal strain, von Mises stress, and intracranial pressure across key brain regions, including the corpus callosum and pituitary gland. Simulations revealed strain concentrations in the parietal and temporal lobes, while the mid-body region was the most affected in the corpus callosum. Pituitary gland deformation was minimal under both loading conditions. Our findings align qualitatively with reported injury sites and injury risk was consistent with those observed in the real-world crashes. The findings highlight the potential of integrating sex-specific biomechanical models into crash biomechanics workflows. Future work should extend this approach across larger datasets and impact scenarios to support its implementation in regulatory and engineering contexts, since the actual sample size prevents conclusions regarding sex-specific biomechanics.

Source: Applied Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/app152111837

Authors: Carlos G. S. Cardoso, Andre Eggers, Marcus Wisch, Fábio A. O. Fernandes, Ricardo J. Alves de Sousa

Institutions: University of Aveiro, Federal Highway and Transport Research Institute

Language: English

Topic: Automotive and Human Injury Biomechanics

Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896