To enable vehicle manufacturers to better understand the biomechanical effects of design changes, it is deemed beneficial to employ a biomechanically fidelic finite element model (FEM) of the human lower limb. In this study, a detailed lower limb FEM was developed. Since the first application will be for pedestrian lower limb injuries (which are primarily in the tibia, femur, and knee joint), the improved model does not include a detailed foot, hip joint, or ankle joint. Validation against published cadaver test results consisted of tibia and femur 3-point bending (lateral-medial and anterior-posterior) and whole limb lateral knee shear. Validation was performed under both static and dynamic loading conditions, until bone failure or ligament rupture. Additional dynamic validation with the lower limb in a seated orientation has not been completed, limiting current applications to the pedestrian impact condition. The validated models were employed to examine the effect of axial compressive force (the physiological condition) on tibia and femur lateral-medial and anterior-posterior bending under static conditions.
Abstract