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Modelling the Fetus for pregnant Occupant Safety Accepted Version.pdf (618.29 kB)

Modelling the foetus for pregnant occupant safety

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journal contribution
posted on 2014-06-20, 13:08 authored by Serpil Acar, David W. van Lopik
Annual foetus mortality rates due to road traffic accidents are much higher than the infant mortality rates in motor vehicle crashes. The goal of this study is to generate a computational model of the unborn occupant (foetus) for crash protection research. The multibody foetus model is accommodated in the finite element uterus model of 'Expecting', the computational pregnant occupant model which tackles the complexity of a pregnant women's anatomy and incorporates pregnant female anthropometry. In particular, 38 weeks gestation level is focused upon since at this stage of pregnancy the foetus is at greatest risk during a crash due to the size increase of the abdomen resulting in a close proximity to the vehicle steering wheel and awkward routing of the seatbelt. This article explains in detail all stages of modelling the unborn occupant and the links to its environment, the uterus with a placenta and the computational female model.

History

School

  • Design

Published in

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part K: Journal of Multi-body Dynamics

Volume

226

Issue

3

Pages

197 - 205

Citation

ACAR, B.S. and VAN LOPIK, D., 2012. Modelling the foetus for pregnant occupant safety. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part K: Journal of Multi-body Dynamics, 226 (3), pp. 197 - 205

Publisher

Sage /© IMechE

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2012

Notes

This article was published in the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part K: Journal of Multi-body Dynamics [Sage /© IMechE] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1464419312452478

ISSN

1464-4193

eISSN

2041-3068

Language

  • en