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A Finite Element Model of the Foot and Ankle for Automotive Impact Applications

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Abstract

A finite element (FE) model of the foot and leg was developed to improve understanding of injury mechanisms of the ankle and subtalar joints during vehicle collisions and to aid in the design of injury countermeasures. The FE model was developed based on the reconstructed geometry of a male volunteer close to the anthropometry of a 50th percentile male and a commercial anatomical database. While the forefoot bones were defined as rigid bodies connected by ligament models, the surrounding bones of the ankle and subtalar joints and the leg bones were modeled as deformable structures. The material and structural properties were selected based on a synthesis of current knowledge of the constitutive models for each tissue. The whole foot and leg model was validated in different loading conditions including forefoot impact, axial rotation, dorsiflexion, and combined loadings. Overall results obtained in the model validation indicated improved biofidelity relative to previous FE models. The developed model was used to investigate the injury tolerance of the ankle joint under brake pedal loading for internally and externally rotated feet. Ligament failures were predicted as the main source of injury in this loading condition. A 12% variation of failure moment was observed in the range of axial foot rotations (±15°). The most vulnerable position was the internally rotated (15°) posture among three different foot positions. Furthermore, the present foot and ankle model will be coupled together with other body region FE models into the state-of-art human FE model to be used in the field of automotive safety.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this study was provided by the Global Human Body Models Consortium, LLC (GHBMC) through grant: PLEXM-001. The authors thank GHBMC committee members, Dr. James Funk, Dr. Rodney Rudd, and Dr. Jeff Crandall for their support given to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Jaeho Shin & Neng Yue

  2. Virginia Tech—Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Costin D. Untaroiu

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  1. Jaeho Shin
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  2. Neng Yue
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  3. Costin D. Untaroiu
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Correspondence to Costin D. Untaroiu.

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Associate Editor Joel D. Stitzel oversaw the review of this article.

Appendix: The Material/Structural Properties of the Bone and Foot Ligaments

Appendix: The Material/Structural Properties of the Bone and Foot Ligaments

Table A1 Mechanical properties of bone models
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Table A2 Geometric data of midfoot ligament models
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Table A3 Structural properties of forefoot ligament models
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Shin, J., Yue, N. & Untaroiu, C.D. A Finite Element Model of the Foot and Ankle for Automotive Impact Applications. Ann Biomed Eng 40, 2519–2531 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-012-0607-3

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