Development of a parametric pediatric head finite element model based on statistics and accident reconstruction

Traffic accidents and falls are the leading causes of pediatric head injuries.Current pediatric head finite element(FE) models based on single subject have shortcomings due to the time-consuming development process and the paucity of test data from child cadavers.This paper presents three statistical FE models representing average newborn,1.5-month-old,and 3-month-old child heads developed using principal component analysis and regression(PCAR) as well as the radial basis function(RBF) method.The three models are used to simulate pediatric skull fractures for comparison with real-world head trauma data.The results show that the location of the maximum von Mises stress in the skull matches well with the skull fracture pattern in the accidents,and is much higher than 10 MPa which is approximately the failure stress of the skull,demonstrating that the parametric model developed in this study is superior to the single pediatric head FE model and is capable of reconstructing and predicting pediatric skull fractures caused by impacts.