Development of a thorax finite element model for thoracic injury assessment

Kinetic energy non-lethal weapons (KE-NLW) are now widely used by law enforcement, by military forces, by the police in situations where the use of lethal arms is not required or suitable. Unfortunately, their effects are still not well known. Therefore, there is a need to better understand the injury mechanism induced by such projectiles for a better prediction of the risk of injury. This may be beneficial for the manufacturer, the deciders or the end-users. Numerical simulations are being increasingly used for that purpose. This paper describes first steps in the development of finite element model for thoracic impacts. All the simulations were performed with Ls-Dyna code. For validation purpose, the results were compared to the results of tests made on Post-Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) published in literature. The sensitivity of contact option and the use of two sets of parameters for the lung material model were examined.