Journal of Theoretical
and Applied Mechanics

56, 1, pp. 239-253, Warsaw 2018
DOI: 10.15632/jtam-pl.56.1.239

Dynamic simulation of a novel "broomstick" human forward fall model and finite element analysis of the radius under the impact force during fall

Dariusz Grzelczyk, Paweł Biesiacki, Jerzy Mrozowski, Jan Awrejcewicz
The paper presents dynamic simulation and experimental identification of a human forward
fall model describing the process of “falling like a broomstick” on the outstretched arms.
The model implemented in Mathematica allows one to estimate time histories of the ground
reaction force in different scenarios of the fall process. These time series are applied as
time-varying load conditions to the numerical analysis of the human radial bone model
created from the computed tomography data. Finally, the obtained numerical results indicate
that the strain criterion seems to be more useful for estimating the radius fracture site in
comparison to the stress criterion.
Keywords: forward fall, ground reaction force, bone strength, fracture, distal radius