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In vehicle-pedestrian collisions, lower extremities of pedestrians are frequently impacted by the vehicle front structure. The aim of the current study is to understand the role of muscle activity in knee joint injuries at low velocity lateral impacts, characteristic of vehicle-pedestrian collisions. Therefore, a group of muscles in the lower extremity are modeled using bar elements with the Hill material model. The reflex response of the muscle is then included. Simulations indicate that muscle activation decreases the probability of failure in knee ligaments.

Many research groups are developing Human Body FE Models (FE-HBM) as a tool to be used in safety research. The FE-HBM's currently available are in certain fixed postures. Repositioning of model in alternate postures is needed for use in out of position (OOP) occupant simulations and different pedestrian posture simulations. Postural change in upper extremity can be split two processes, viz, repositioning of spinal vertebra and repositioning of the soft tissue associated with the spine. The objective of this study is to establish a methodology to regenerate pelvis flesh with change in spine/pelvis position. The outer profile of the pelvis flesh should ideally be parametrically described with respect to the associated hard tissues which is not the case in existing FE-HBM's. The affine invariant (Farin, 1990) property of cubic Bezier curves is used in this study.