Experimental and computational methods were applied to study the vibration of the “GelMan2” human thorax surrogate. GelMan2 is an instrumented thoracic surrogate developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to measure the response of the human body to various injury mechanisms. This virtual model of the “GelMan2” consisted of a skeletal structure, the simulated tissue and the lungs. Bulk surrogate tissue properties have been developed to approximate those of biological tissues in GelMan2 for both surrogate lungs and surrounding tissue.

The vibrational amplitude and frequencies studied in this presentation were aimed at gaining insight on the biomechanics and injury mechanisms resulting from blunt trauma, personal body protection, sports injuries and automobile accidents.

Two and three dimensional finite element models were employed. A modal analysis using ABAQUS was performed to understand the biodynamics of the surrogate. Multiple modes were assessed and quantitatively compared to the physical GelMan2 surrogate. Finite element comparisons with the experimental results show the predicted modes of vibrations. Accelerometers were strategically placed in the surrogate to measure the internal response of GelMan2 on a vibrational table set for fixed accelerations up to 2g’s and frequencies up to 1 kHz. This data provided metrics on the physical response of the thorax. In the frequency domain, resonances were correlated for the various modes of vibration for the complex system. The computationally predicted modes of vibration were compared with high-speed videography.