Abstract
A driver not wearing a seatbelt suffers fatal liver injury as the result of crash between a steering wheel and an abdomen in the traffic accident. In terms of automotive passive safety, it is essential to understand the mechanical properties of liver and establish the method of quantitative injury evaluation. We conducted the quasi-static compression tests using full-scale livers that were removed from fresh hogs slaughtered for meat packing. Three types of indenters (a plate, a quadratic-prism, and a cylinder) were developed, and specimens were compressed using them. After compression tests, specimens were extended formalin fixation in order to observe the intemal liver injuries in detail. The bulk injury scales in each specimen were calculated and evaluated the relationships with a maximum stress, a maximum compressive volume, and a maximum bulk strain. The compressive volume and bulk strain illustrated the linear correlations with the bulk injury scale while the stress showed no correlation. Therefore, it is considered that the liver injury scale can be predicted by measurement of three-dimensional deformation.
