DEARBORN, April 16, 2007 – Ford Motor Company will bring its 14 years of research and development expertise using computer human models to a consortium of automakers and suppliers as a way to improve restraint systems for all vehicles of the future.
Ford is one of nine automakers and two suppliers that will consolidate their pre-competitive research and development activities in human body modeling into a single global effort to advance crash safety technology. The computer models, which represent human beings in minute detail, could help scientists determine and better understand injuries that are likely to result from a vehicle crash. Ford is the only automaker whose full human body model includes highly detailed internal organs, especially the human brain model.
Ford began building the human body model in 1993, creating the regions of the body such as the head, neck, ribcage, abdomen, thoracic and lumbar spine, internal organs of the chest and abdomen, pelvis, and the upper and lower extremities. These regions were brought together in 2004 to create the full body model.
The human body model represents an average adult male and is constructed using technologies like data gathered from MRI scans and topographies from human body anatomical texts. Validation of the computer model is done through cadaver and volunteer human testing.
The model includes a highly detailed spine with all the vertebrae segments and cartilage attached, and a comprehensive brain model that has been used to determine the extent of injuries that can occur during a crash.
Dr. Saeed Barbat, manager, Passive Safety Research and Advanced Engineering, Ford Motor Company says that in the future, virtually-pressurized "blood vessels" may be developed to help determine how internal organs react during specific types of crashes.
“The Human Body Model will help reduce physical testing on component and full-scale levels during vehicle development," Barbat said. “It will also be used to develop more sophisticated instrumentation that could lead to more human-like crash dummies.”
The data gathered using both actual and virtual crash test dummies will help Ford and members of the consortium develop and bring to market innovative safety technologies faster than ever and in advance of possible future government regulations.
In addition to Ford, members of the consortium include: DaimlerChrysler AG., General Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co., Nissan Motor Corp., PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Renault s.a.s., Takata Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and TRW Inc. These members formed the Global Human Body Models Consortium LLC in April 2006 following three years of organizing and planning.
The consortium has sent requests for proposals to some 40 research and university groups worldwide. The consortium plans to create five centers of expertise for body region models, such as the head and neck, and two centers for full body model integration.
Phase One proposals are due by June and call for having the first six human body models – large, medium and small males and females – developed by March 2011 at an estimated cost of up to $18 million. Additional funding and sponsorship is being sought from outside sources, including the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
After the first six virtual humans are created, the consortium envisions a second phase consisting of adult models of any age, body shape and size followed by a third phase focused on developing child models.
Consolidating all pre-competitive R&D activities in human body modeling into a single global effort would save money in model development costs; speed results through the elimination of duplicate work; and commonize vehicle development tools for enhanced crash safety.
To mimic or replicate specific crash-induced injuries at the tissue level in math data will require more basic research and it will have to take the advantage of the rapid expansion in computing power.
The new models will be very detailed and might have a total number of finite elements, 10 to 30 times more than existing commercially available human body models.
The use of finite element models to simulate vehicle crash tests has a strong potential to improve vehicle safety and to save time and money in hardware prototyping and testing. But the differences between the human body and the crash test dummy limit engineers to assessing injury potential with indirect gross injury measurements, such as chest deceleration and deformation.
The virtual humans initially will be used in automotive safety testing but could be used in other ways.
Source: Ford Motor Company
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