Development And Validation Of A Finite Element Lower Limb Model For Elderly Females

Physical surrogates and numerical models have been used to investigate the lower limb injury responses in blunt trauma related to occupant and pedestrian impacts during crash events. To date, automotive crash dummies used for studying the lower limb kinematics and injury responses in car crashes are designed to represent mid-age adults. But due to increase in fragility and frailty with age, the injury risk of the lower limb of elderly females is greater compared to younger adults. Thus, safety designs should expand for protecting elderly females in lower limb impacts.The current study focuses on developing a lower limb finite element model for elderly females with accurate anthropometry and anatomical details. The model was further validated against segmental and whole-body level experimental data of lower limb impact during pedestrian, frontal, and side impact loading. The validated model will be further integrated into the whole-body model to study injury mechanisms and safety designs for this vulnerable population of elderly females.