Development of a dynamic multibody model to analyze human lower extremity impact response and injury

Hall, G. W.; Crandall, J. R.; Pilkey, W. D.; Thunnissen, J. G.

Affiliations

¹University of Virginia Automobile Safety Laboratory, Charlottesville, VA, USA

²TNO Road-Vehicles Research Institute, Delft, The Netherlands

Abstract

A dynamic multibody model of the 50th percentile male lower extremity is developed to examine internal loading during plantar impact. The foot and leg, represented by five and seven rigid bodies respectively, are provided with degrees of freedom and stiffness values from cadaveric and volunteer data. Soft tissue structures, including the heel pad, ankle ligaments, and triceps surae muscles are represented with nonlinear viscoelastic elements. Validation involved subjecting the model to two different plantar impact scenarios and comparing the time histories of tibia compression, Achilles tendon tension, and ankle motion with those from the cadaveric test data. Injuries are predicted in the model by comparing force within the model elements with experimentally determined and published failure criteria for the respective structures. This model provides a tool for predicting soft tissue and hard tissue lower extremity injuries associated with a variety of foot and ankle loading environments.

Cited Works (5)

Year	Entry
1993	Fung YC. Biomechanics: Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag; 1993.
1998	Hall GW. Biomechanical Characterization and Multibody Modeling of the Human Lower Extremity [PhD thesis]. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia; May 1998.
1989	Seireg A, Arvikar R. Biomechanical Analysis of the Muscoloskeletal Structure for Medicine and Sports. New York, NY: Hemisphere Publishing; 1989.
1976	Inman VT. The Joints of the Ankle. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins; 1976.
1993	Mertz HJ. Anthropomorphic test devices. In: Nahum AM, Melvin JW, eds. Accidental Injury: Biomechanics and Prevention. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag; 1993:66-84.

Cited By (8)

Year	Entry
1999	Cappon HJ, van den Kroonenberg AJ, Happee R, Wismans JSHM. An improved lower leg multibody model. In: Proceedings of the 1999 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 23-24, 1999; Sitges, Spain.499-512.
2003	Höglund N, Lövsund P, Viano D, Olsén S. Foot and ankle safety evaluation in real life crash situations. In: Proceedings of the 2003 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 25, 2003; Lisbon, Portugal.163-175.
2008	Kerrigan J, Parent D, Untaroiu C, Crandall J, Deng B. A new detailed multi-body model of the pedestrian lower extremity: development and preliminary validation. In: Proceedings of the 2008 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 17-19, 2008; Bern, Switzerland.227-242.
1999	Dubbeldam R, Nilson G, Pal B, Eriksson N, Owen C, Roberts A, Crandall J, Hall G, Manning P, Wallace A. A MADYMO model of the foot and leg for local impacts. In: Proceedings of the 43rd Stapp Car Crash Conference. October 25-27, 1999; San Diego, CA. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers:185-202. SAE 99SC12.
2001	Beillas P, Begeman PC, Yang KH, King AI, Arnoux P-J, Kang H-S, Kayvantash K, Brunet C, Cavallero C, Prasad P. Lower limb: advanced FE model and new experimental data. Stapp Car Crash J. 2001;45:469-494. SAE 2001-22-0022.
2009	Kerrigan JR, Parent DP, Untaroiu C, Crandall JR, Deng B. A new approach to multibody model development: pedestrian lower extremity. Traffic Inj Prev. 2009;10(4):386-397.
2016	Grigoriadis G. Heel Biomechanics Under Blast Conditions [PhD thesis]. Imperial College London; June 2016.
2008	Kerrigan JR. A Computationally Efficient Mathematical Model of the Pedestrian Lower Extremity [PhD thesis]. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia; January 2008.