Finite element human body models (HBMs) are used to assess injury risk in a variety of impact scenarios. The ribs are a key structural component within the chest, so their accuracy within HBMs is vitally important for modeling human biomechanics. We assessed the geometric correspondence between the ribs defined within five widely used HBMs and measures drawn from population-wide studies of rib geometry, focusing on (1) rib global shape, (2) rib cross-sectional size and shape, and (3) rib cortical bone thickness. A parametric global shape model fitted to all HBM ribs was compared to expected rib parameters calculated for each HBM's subject demographic using population reference data. The GHBMC M50 and THUMS M50 male HBMs showed 24% and 50% of their fitted rib shape parameters (6 parameters per each 12 ribs) falling outside 1SD from population expected values, respectively. For female models the GHBMC F05, THUMS F05, and VIVA F50 models had 21%, 26%, and 19% of their rib shape parameters falling outside 1SD, respectively. Cross-sectional areas and inertial moments obtained along the HBM ribs were compared to average ± 1SD corridors for male and female ribs drawn from reference population data. The GHBMC M50, THUMS M50, and VIVA F50 model ribs were all larger in overall cross-sectional area than their targeted average population values by 0.9SDs (average across the rib's full length), 1.7SDs, and 1.3SDs, respectfully. When considering cortical bone cross-sectional area, the THUMS and VIVA models-which each define a constant bone thickness value across the entire rib-overestimated bone content on average by 1.1SDs and 1.2SDs, respectively. HBMs have traditionally performed poorly when predicting rib fracture onset or fracture site, and in all HBMs in this study the rib regions with the most extreme cortical bone thickness and cross-sectional area discrepancies (compared to average reference data) corresponded to regions toward the sternal end of the ribs where rib fractures most frequently occur. Results from this study highlight geometrical components of current HBM ribs that differ from the rib geometry that would be expected from within those models' target demographics, and help researchers prioritize improvements to their biofidelity.

中文翻译：

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比较有限元人体模型肋骨几何与人口数据。

有限元人体模型 (HBM) 用于评估各种撞击场景中的伤害风险。肋骨是胸部的关键结构部件，因此它们在 HBM 中的准确性对于模拟人体生物力学至关重要。我们评估了在五个广泛使用的 HBM 中定义的肋骨之间的几何对应关系，以及从肋骨几何的全人群研究中得出的测量值，重点是 (1) 肋骨整体形状，(2) 肋骨横截面尺寸和形状，以及 (3)肋骨皮质骨厚度。将拟合到所有 HBM 肋骨的参数全局形状模型与使用人口参考数据为每个 HBM 受试者人口统计计算的预期肋骨参数进行比较。GHBMC M50 和 THUMS M50 雄性 HBM 分别有 24% 和 50% 的拟合肋骨形状参数（每 12 根肋骨 6 个参数）落在人群预期值的 1SD 之外。对于女性模型，GHBMC F05、THUMS F05 和 VIVA F50 模型的肋骨形状参数分别有 21%、26% 和 19% 落在 1SD 之外。沿 HBM 肋骨获得的横截面面积和惯性矩与从参考人口数据中提取的男性和女性肋骨的平均 ± 1SD 走廊进行比较。GHBMC M50、THUMS M50 和 VIVA F50 模型肋骨的总横截面积均比其目标平均人口值大 0.9SD（肋骨全长的平均值）、1.7SD 和 1.3SD。在考虑皮质骨截面积时，THUMS 和 VIVA 模型——它们各自定义了整个肋骨的恒定骨厚度值——平均分别高估了 1.1SD 和 1.2SD 的骨含量。HBM 传统上在预测肋骨骨折发生或骨折部位时表现不佳，在本研究的所有 HBM 中，具有最极端皮质骨厚度和横截面积差异的肋骨区域（与平均参考数据相比）对应于朝向胸骨的区域肋骨最常发生骨折的肋骨末端。这项研究的结果突出了当前 HBM 肋骨的几何成分，这些成分与这些模型的目标人口统计数据中预期的肋骨几何形状不同，并帮助研究人员优先考虑改善其生物保真度。