Biomechanical Response of the Pediatric Abdomen, Part 1: Development of an Experimental Model and Quantification of Structural Response to Dynamic Belt Loading

The second most commonly injured area of the body of a child using an adult's seat belt is the abdomen. No pediatric dummy currently can quantify injury risk from loading to the abdomen, limiting engineering efforts in designing systems to mitigate pediatric abdominal injuries. The authors define biomechanical response of porcine modeling of the abdomen of a six-year-old human. Study involved detailed abdominal necroscopy, involving series collection of organ masses and anthropometric measurements of 25 swine 14-429 days old and 4-101 kg whole body mass. Best porcine representation of the abdomen of a six-year-old human, a 77-day-old pig with a 21.4 kg whole body mass, was determined after corresponding human quantities were compared to the porcine measurements. The porcine model sub-injury quasistatic response to belt loading compared well with tests using lap belts on lower abdomens on pediatric human volunteers. Transverse, dynamic belt loading on the porcine abdomen was achieved through design of a test fixture. Test variables identified after detailed field case review were penetration magnitude of upper or lower loading location of 23%-68% of initial abdominal depth; whether or not there was muscle tensing; and quasistatic dynamic belt penetration rate of 2.9 m/s-7.8 m/s. Dynamic testing was done on 47 post-mortem porcine subjects. Structural response corridors were generated by cross-plotting abdominal penetration with dorsal reaction force and belt tension. Although quasistatic response was significantly stiffened through subcutaneous anterior abdominal muscle wall stimulation, dynamic tests were not significantly impacted. Quasistatic response was stiffer, and penetration rate more sensitive, in the upper abdomen. Upper abdominal dynamic rate testing also showed significant increases in stiffness, while lower abdominal testing showed relative rate insensitivity. The authors believe the study discussed is the only one involving dynamic structural characterization of a six-year-old human abdomen experimental model that has been comprehensively developed. Mechanical and computational pediatric models useful in assessing belt penetration injury level in the abdomen should be able to be developed from structural corridors discussed in the study.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/139780768018295
• Authors:
  • Stacey, Stephen
  • Kent, Richard W
  • Kindig, Matthew
  • Forman, Jason
  • Woods, William
  • Rouhana, Stephen W
  • Higuchi, Kazuo
  • Tanji, Hiromasa
  • St Lawrence, Schuyler
  • Arbogast, Kristy B
• Conference:
  • 50th Stapp Car Crash Conference
  • Location: Dearborn Michigan, United States
  • Date: 2006-11-6 to 2006-11-8
• Publication Date: 2006-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-26
• Serial:
  • Stapp Car Crash Journal
  • Volume: 50
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 1532-8546
  • Serial URL: http://www.stapp.org/pubs.shtml

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Abdomen; Biophysics; Child restraint systems; Children; Crash injuries; Crash injury research; Crash victim simulation; Dummies; Engineering; Loads; Penetrating injuries; Restraint systems; Stiffness; Tension; Testing
• Uncontrolled Terms: Abdominal injuries; Crash models; Quasi-static tests; Swine
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01046236
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 139780768018295
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 19 2007 3:55PM