Development of a Full‐Body Human FE Model for Pedestrian Crash Reconstructions

The goal of this study is to develop a full‐body human Finite Element (FE) model with the enhanced biofidelity and the numerical robustness necessary for use in dynamic car–pedestrian accident reconstructions in various impact scenarios. An FE model for the pelvis and lower limbs in a standing position developed in the authors past study was combined with FE models for bones and ligaments in the upper body taken from an occupant model. The biofidelity of the combined model was further enhanced and validated against experiments. Each body region of the full‐body model was validated in multiple loading conditions, including neck bending, thoracic impact, isolated pelvis impact, thigh and leg bending, knee bending, knee ligament tension, and ankle joint rotation. The full‐body model was subjected to lateral and frontal impacts at 70 km/h against a simplified car model representing a stiff front‐end structure, showing that the model is robust enough to simulate high speed impacts in different pedestrian orientations.