Back to results

Virginia Tech

Development and Validation of a Finite Element Dummy Lower Limb Model for Under-body blast Applications

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

An under-body blast (UBB) refers to the use of a roadside explosive device to target a vehicle and its occupants. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) accounted for an estimated 63% of US fatalities. Furthermore, advancements in protective equipment, combat triage, and treatment have caused an increase in IED casualties surviving with debilitating injuries. Military vehicles have been common targets of IED attacks because of the potential to inflict multiple casualties. Anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) are mechanical human surrogates designed to transfer loads and display kinematics similar to a human subject. ATDs have been used successfully by the automotive industry for decades to quantify human injury during an impact and assess safety measures. Currently the Hybrid III ATD is used in live-fire military vehicle assessments. However, the Hybrid III was designed for frontal impacts and demonstrated poor biofidelity in vertical loading experiments. To assess military vehicle safety and make informed improvements to vehicle design, a novel Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) was developed and optimized for vertical loading. ATDs, commonly referred to as crash dummies, are designed to estimate the risk of injuries to a human during an impact. The main objective of this study was to develop and validate a Finite Element (FE) model of the ATD lower limb.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Biomedical Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Biomedical Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2017

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Baker, Wade Andrew
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Untaroiu, Costin D.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Kemper, Andrew R.
  • Hardy, Warren N.
  • Chowdhury, Mostafiz R.

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:12453
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/86657

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Baker, Wade Andrew. Development and Validation of a Finite Element Dummy Lower Limb Model for Under-body blast Applications. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/86657