University of Michigan, Associate Research Scientist
Jingwen Hu is an associate research scientist in the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute Biosciences Group. He earned a PhD in biomedical engineering from Wayne State University and an MS and a BS in automotive engineering from Tsinghua University.
Dr. Hu's research interests focus on injury biomechanics in motor-vehicle crashes by a multidisciplinary approach using a combination of experimental, numerical, and epidemiological procedures. He is also interested in human modeling for other applications, including pediatric head injuries in falls and child abuse cases, computer-aided surgery, and seating comfort. His recent research primarily focused on computational investigations on injury mechanism and restraint-system optimization for various vulnerable populations, including children, elderly, pregnant occupants, wheelchair users, and obese occupants.
Speeches
Although seatbelt interlocks are now allowed, Federal regulations still require vehicles to meet occupant performance requirements with unbelted test dummies. Removing the test requirements with unbelted
occupants might encourage the deployment of seatbelt interlocks and allow restraint optimization to focus on belted occupants. The objective of this study is to compare the performance of restraint systems optimized for belted only occupants with those optimized for both belted and unbelted occupants using computer simulations. In this study, two validated finite element (FE) vehicle/occupant models, including a mid-size sedan and a mid-size SUV were selected. Response surface models using simulation results under standardized crash conditions for both vehicles on both driver and right front passenger positions were developed using modeFrontier, and then restraint design optimizations with and without unbelted requirements were conducted for four occupant-vehicle conditions. Results indicate that, compared to the optimal designs with unbelted requirements, optimal designs
without unbelted requirements generated the same or lower total injury risks for belted occupants, but they also increased the total injury risks for unbelted occupants.