Crash-Simulation
Simulated crashes. In Bangalore, India, Daimler biomechanics experts and engineers are conducting research into tomorrow’s accidents. Although the collisions they create take place in the digital world of computers, the simulations realistically re-create the consequences for the people involved. This is possible thanks to the dedication of virtual “guinea pigs” known as human body models.
| ||||||||||
When a sedan is hit from the side by a vehicle moving at 50 kilometers per hour, the result can be devastating. The door bulges into the interior; the driver’s head sinks into the window airbag; his hands and feet twitch spastically. In a nightmarish scene, the crash is repeated over and over in slow motion. No one makes a move to help, and there are no impact sounds or screams. The silence is ultimately broken by the businesslike voice of biomechanics specialist Girish Sharma, 32. “It took us weeks to program the system for these 120 milliseconds,” he says before freezing the animated scene on his monitor. Sharma’s chiseled facial features express the composure of a person who comprehends the world by means of mathematical formulas.
Sharma conducts these simulations to determine what happens in, and to, the bodies of virtual passengers during traffic accidents. With a click of his mouse, Sharma opens the vehicle occupant’s skull. Another click removes the skin and a third unveils the body’s muscles and tendons. Watching the bones bend is enough to make most observers wince. With another click, the body is transformed into a pattern of colored lines. We zoom deep into the virtual body, making even the smallest parts visible. The body consists of 80,000 elements, with numbers, letters, and equal signs at the nodes. Rows of numbers flash by on the screen.
Crash simulation films using the human body model
Continue to read here...
