University of West Bohemia

The University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (New Technologies and Research Center in the Westbohemian region and Department of Mechanics of the Faculty of Applied Sciences) has been in collaboration with ESI for 11 years in the field of virtual human body development, validation and application using PAM-CRASH and PAM-SAFE solutions. One of the main projects in collaboration with the strong biomechanical team from the University since the very beginning is the development of ‘a basic articulated rigid body model’ named ROBBY. The model consists of rigid bodies (head, fully articulated spine, thorax, abdomen, upper and lower extremities) connected by kinetic joints with nonlinear biomechanical response. The ROBBY model is enhanced with a knee model that enables lateral bending and lateral shearing important for the description of the global response after an impact. From ROBBY, two others were born: ROBINA, a 5%-tile female model and a BOBBY6, a six years old child model. A simple scaling model is now being developed.

The main advantage of human models over dummies in an impact simulation is that they are somehow able to model ‘real life’.

All main muscle bunches accommodating muscle activity are modelled using the Hill’s muscle model. Considering detailed injury assessment, FEM sub-models are being developed (currently head, thorax and abdomen).

The partnership has helped ESI develop human models, validate and test these on the PAM platform.