Development and Utilization of a Semi-Automated Finite Element Approach to Real World Motor Vehicle Crash Reconstruction to Investigate Lumbar Spine Injury

Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are the eighth leading cause of death globally, accounting for over 1.2 million deaths annually. In the United States alone, 30,000 deaths and 3.9 million injuries can be attributed to MVCs every year. To study real world injury incidence and causation, multiple databases are continually updated by trained crash investigators. Recent analyses have shown that despite increasing crashworthiness of vehicles, the rate of lumbar spine injuries has increased over the course of multiple decades. Finite element analysis is a valuable tool that has been underutilized in the analysis of real world MVC reconstruction and possesses the potential to shed light on real world injury mechanism.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Jones, Derek Alexander

• finite element

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/62652

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/62652