In designing optimized activity tailored head protection, knowledge on the following items is crucial: 1/ lesion-specific tolerance criteria in humans; 2/ the relative risk of developing specific lesions in accidents associated with this activity; 3/ the relation between specific lesions and outcome (in order to definitely protect against the most devastating injuries; and 4/ mechanical input in accidents associated with this activity. Although not finalized, a vast knowledge on item 1 exists. As for pedal cycling, most frequent traumatic head lesions and their relation with outcome are well established. Data on ranges of magnitudes of mechanical variables at impact are scarce, while these are nevertheless essential in developing appropriate protection. Moreover, such database will serve as a well-documented set of validation data for finite element impact simulations.
Description
This PhD project is part of a Marie-Curie International Training Network, HEADS (Head protection: a European training network for Advanced Designs in Safety), with UC Dublin, KTH Stockholm and KU Leuven as academic partners, and Charles Owen, Lazer Sport and AGV as industrial partners. This PhD will be headquartered at KU Leuven, (Heverlee, Belgium) more specifically in the Head Impact Biomechanics group. This is an interdisciplinary research group at KU Leuven on Head Impact Biomechanics, currently consisting of 10 scientists from the Biomechanics Section of the Mechanical Engineering Department, the Materials Science Department and Neurosurgery Department.
As part of the Marie Curie training experience, the candidate will spend 6 months at Lazer
The scientific goal of HEADS is to improve the understanding of head impact injury and to design new helmet standard test methods that recognise the influence of rotational kinematics. This will lead to improved helmets and a reduction in the severity of injuries and the numbers of fatalities. This objective will be achieved through a combination of computational simulations of real-life accidents, experimental and computational investigation of injury thresholds, and design of new helmet certification tests.
In this PhD research specifically, using Madymo software, adetailed model of a bicycle, pedal cyclist and motor vehicle will be built. Athorough sensitivity analysis will be performed by changing input variables suchas impact velocity, collision angle, cyclist mass, etc. Such analysis will beperformed for both cyclist-vehicle collisions and cyclist-only accidents.Changes in head impact response will be recorded in terms of peak head loading,peak head linear and rotational acceleration, maximum head velocity and totalpulse duration. Second, data on accident circumstances available in theaccident records will be used as input using the optimized model, which shouldresult in estimates of realistic ranges of magnitudes of head responsevariables. Again, this will be done for both cyclist-vehicle collisions andcyclist-only accidents. Third, relations between mechanical head response dataand the documented resulting head injuries will be investigated.
The obtained information will then be used to validate a state-of-the-art FE head model, available in the HEADS Network.
Nr of positions available : 1
Research Fields
Engineering - Biomedical engineering
Career Stage
Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)
Research Profiles
Not defined
Benefits
The doctoral student is offered a 4 year highly specialised doctoral training, making the candidate an expert in head impact biomechanics and helmet design technologies as well as being aware of commercialisable market opportunities. The doctoral candidate will work in world-class facilities with highly qualified experts, and will benefit from the training scheme developed based on the expertise of academic and industrial partners.This project will reach a new level of understanding of head injury and how head injury should be prevented, with directly applicable results to European industry. It will develop a well-networked group of young engineers and scientists into world class researchers and innovators with numerous career paths open to them, who will advance technology for the benefit of society and maintain Europe as a global leader in industrial development.
Comment/web site for additional job details
Reference number BAP-2014-572
Master in Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or equivalent, preferably with a biomechanics background. Knowledge of rigid body and multi body dynamics is considered a plus.
The candidate cannot have resided in Belgium for more than 12 months in the last 3 years prior to the start of the position.
KU Leuven is an equal opportunity employer.
For more information please contact Prof. dr. Bart Depreitere, tel.: +3216348688, mail: bart.depreitere@med.kuleuven.be or Prof. dr. ir. Jos Vander Sloten, tel.: +32 16 32 70 99, mail: jos.vandersloten@kuleuven.be.
You can apply for this job no later than 01/04/2015 via the online application tool