Modelling of Car Occupant Muscle Responses in a Finite Element Human Body Model

Over 30 000 fatalities related to the road transport system are reported in Europe annually. Of these fatalities, the largest share is car occupants, even though significant improvements in vehicle safety have been achieved by the implementation of in-crash restraints and pre-crash driver support systems. Integration of pre-crash and in-crash safety systems provides a potential for further reduction of car occupant fatalities. For virtual development of integrated systems, numerical occupant models are needed. At the present, finite element (FE) human body models (HBM) are commonly used for crash simulations, but not for pre-crash scenarios due to the lack of active muscles. This presentation addresses a method to include postural muscle responses in an FE HBM for simulation of integrated safety systems