Injury Biomechanics Lab

Our experimental program is centered around our custom-built pneumatic impacting apparatus.  This device can apply impact loads to any segment of the body at a wide range of speeds, impact angles, and accelerations.  It can be used to simulate injuries ranging from falls to mine blasts, and is fully instrumented to capture the event.

Our numerical program focuses on developing models of the human body, validating them against experimental tests, and then using them to investigate other loading conditions to identify conditions for which the human body is most vulnerable, as well as to evaluate protective measures.  We use Mimics, TrueGrid, and LS-Dyna software for these simulations, among others.

Current projects are focused on the lower limb, and investigating the factors that influence injury to this region of the body.  We are currently testing the effect of impact angle (combined axial and bending loading) as well as impact duration (or impulse) on fracture threshold of the tibia.  We have also recently focused on the effect of ankle posture on injury risk, with work being done on experimental impact testing of an ATD, CT investigations into the effect of posture on the locations of bones of the foot/ankle complex, and development of a finite element model that can be manipulated into various postures for injury prediction studies.  Other previous work has focused on determining appropriate material properties for modeling bone's response to impact at both the radius and tibia, as well as developing an instrumented insole for quantifying loading to various regions of the foot.

Please see our "People" tab for more information about current graduate students and their projects.