A new anthropomorphic articulated total body model for forensic investigations: Validation through cadaver data

Articulated total body models have proved to be a useful tool for multibody analyses focused on human body behaviour. Historically, they have found wide applications in vehicle crash analyses, while the respective use in forensic biomechanics is less common and is hampered by the use of generic, simplified geometries and mechanical properties. The article introduces one advancement in these models aimed to replicate the outer geometry more faithfully as this aspect is crucial whenever the expected scenario includes one or more impacts between the human body and the environment. This accurate replication of the outer geometry has been made possible by the development of statistical shape models of the human body which can be shaped according to a limited set of anthropometric measurements. The anthropomorphic model was the basis to create a subject-specific articulated total body android, whose behaviour was validated against experimental tests obtained on cadavers, simulating pedestrian-to-car impacts. The correspondence between numerical and experimental data was checked making use of metrics (EARTH and EEARTH) specifically developed for time histories comparison. This activity has led to the optimization of contact parameters, differentiating the behaviour of the head versus all other body segments. On the whole, a validated model for forensic applications has been set up. This model is characterised by a high geometric accuracy and can be used, for example, to analyse fall scenarios. Further effort will be dedicated to set up a methodology for subject-specific parametrization of joint properties in terms of range of movement and passive stiffness.