Faculty Collaboration Database

Biomechanical model to assess injury reduction during impact. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2009;2009:5267-70

Date

12/08/2009

Pubmed ID

19964670

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5334081

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-77950994872 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   2 Citations

Abstract

This paper implements a biomechanical model and actual tipover trajectory data to assess the risk of head and neck injuries in standup forklift accidents. Seven accident scenarios were analyzed for right tipover, left tipover and off-dock accidents both with and without a door on the operator compartment. Each model had specific data including human anthropometry and trajectory input into the modeling and analysis software packages, Visual-Safe MAD and MADYMO. For all three accident scenarios, each of the seven biomechanical models was analyzed for Injury Assessment Reference Values (IARVs) including angular velocity (omega, omega), angular acceleration (alpha, alpha), Head Injury Criterion (HIC), Neck Injury Criterion--shear, tension and bending (NIC) and the biomechanical Neck Injury Predictor (N(ij)). The study concluded that, in general, the addition of a door to the standup forklift operator compartment leads to a reduction in injury during tipover and off-dock accidents. The ability to brace for impact is not included in these MADYMO models. Bracing is far more effective with an enclosed compartment provided by a latching rear door.

Author List

Meyer AR, Fritz JM, Harris GF

Authors

Jessica M. Fritz PhD Associate Professor in the Orthopaedic Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Gerald Harris PhD Director in the Orthopaedic Research Engineering Center (OREC) department at Marquette University
Gerald F. Harris Emeritus Professor in the Orthopaedic Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Biomechanical Phenomena
Computer Simulation
Craniocerebral Trauma
Humans
Models, Biological
Neck Injuries