Liver injury is one of the most severe traffic trauma. The development of accurate liver finite element model is beneficial for improving the biofidelity and validity in crash simulations, aiming to analyze the injury in accidents. 12 human liver finite element models in the current research were constructed from high resolution CT data of a Chinese male 50th percentile human subject, including the main structures like left lobe, right lobe, capsule, parenchyma and falciform ligament. The simulations based on Nava et al. experiment were conducted to validate the models and make comparisons of modeling method accuracy. The results demonstrated that the larger deviation happened to the tetra models due to the stiffer algorithm compared to the hex models, which were more sensitive to element size. The existence of capsule had significant effects on the liver mechanical responses, reducing the liver tissue pressure. Shell elements were more suitable for modeling the capsule.
Keywords: Human liver; finite element model; impact; injury biomechanics; vehicle safety.