Abstract
The aim of this study is to clear physical properties of thorax under static loadings. We simulated thoracic compression using finite element method and experimented with a living body using cr scanner for validation. For this simulation, we developed an original finite element thorax model from a general-purpose human skeleton shape model. Respiratory muscles were added to this original thorax model bccause these muscles and a skeleton of thorax work together. In the simulation and the experiment, thoracic cage diameter on tracheal bifurcation at maximum deflection was evaluated. The simulated results were very close to the experimental results in the range of O〜30kg and we confirmed the reality of this model. Furthermore, we simulated using the model excluding intercostal muscles and evaluated the muscles' function.
