title: A procedure for a mechanical evaluation of an undefined osteo-protective material.
abstract: Falls represent a major care and cost problem to health and social services world-widely, since 50% of falls result in an injury. In this work, is proposed a methodology to evaluate protective pads materials and geometry performance, in order to reduce impact results in a fall event. Since the material properties and the pad geometry are the key factors to make the protection possible when a fall event occurs, our approach relies on the use of mechanical tests to evaluate the properties of the material and in the study of the pad response during a fall. For this, were used compression, tensile and instrumented falling weight tests, that allow a fully characterization of the materials that can be employed in the protective pads. Likewise, to gather precise information on falls events, in order to study the pad response during a fall, a set of laboratory fall trials were created using a camera-less inertial motion capture (mocap) system. This allow the acquisition of dynamic information of falls, namely acceleration and velocity that can be used to create a finite element analysis (FEA) model, where different segments from the human body can be evaluated when the protective pad is associated to it. Through the proposed methodology, different materials and pad geometries can be studied towards maximizing the performance of protection pads for falls. The mocap system allows the acquisition of fall data, and also the creation of a human body geometrical model, representative of the fall. From the mechanical trials, was showed that the spacer fabric embedded with silicone has the higher ability to reduce the peak force in case of impact when compared with all the other specimens. The compression and the tensile tests allow the mechanical definition of the material, and with this the material definition on the FEA model.
authors.affiliation: Design Department, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, School of Technology, Portugal; Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: marques@fe.up.pt.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.affiliation: Design Department, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, School of Technology, Portugal; Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: mterroso@ipca.pt.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Terroso
authors.affiliation: Design Department, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, School of Technology, Portugal; Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.affiliation: Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: AntÓnio Torres
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.affiliation: Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joaquim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.affiliation: Design Department, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, School of Technology, Portugal; Institute for Polymers and Composites IPC/I3N, University of Minho, Portugal. Electronic address: rsimoes@ipca.pt.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Simoes
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000058:Accidental Falls; D019245:Compressive Strength; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods*; D011482:Protective Devices; D013718:Tensile Strength; D016474:Weight-Bearing; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*
keywords: 3D Spacer fabric; Falls; Finite element analysis; Mechanical tests; Mocap