Identification of Mathematical Models from Impact Data: Application to Thoracic Impact

This paper illustrates a method for deriving the parameters of mathematical models from impact data. An error measure between the model and the experimental data is proposed which avoids repeated simulations of model response. This error measure is formulated for a simple model of the chest utilizing the data of Kroell, et al.(1)** The error is minimized using both gradient and nongradient optimization techniques to obtain model parameters. The reasonable correlation between model and experiment indicated that the method proposed may be a useful tool to researchers in the field.