Development of a head-neck finite element model and analysis of intervertebral strain response during rear impact

A new head-neck finite element model was developed. The skull base and vertebral model were created from the CT images of a typical Japanese male. The models of intervertebral discs, ligaments and muscles were also created based on the human anatomy. The material properties were taken from the published data. Furthermore, a 2D strains measurement method was proposed to evaluate the intervertebral strain due to the vertebral coupled motion of translation and rotation, and it was applied to the cervical vertebral motion data obtained from the past rear impact tests using human volunteers. Then, the head-neck model was used in a simulation reconstructing this test, and the intervertebral strains were also calculated by the same method. The model response shows good agreement with the volunteer response, indicates that the head-neck model is suitable for minor neck injury analysis and it is possible to analyze the intervertebral strain by this new head-neck model.