Automated Measurement for the Length of Connected, Flagged Elements Reported from Finite Element Simulation in 3D Space: A Fracture Length Calculation Implementation

Author(s):

Alan R. Goertz

Abstract:

Researchers commonly measure the lengths of fracture traces, either individually or summed up, as a metric to assess damage in fractured brittle or semibrittle materials like ceramics or bone. It is not unusual for brittle materials to fracture in highly complex patterns that may include hundreds of nonlinear fracture traces. Manual measurement of complex fracture patterns is both a tedious and time-consuming process. This report describes the implementation of an automated skull-fracture length measuring program that generates an interactive 3D image of skull-fracture traces predicted by LS-DYNA finite element simulations. The program directly reads LS-DYNA simulation output files and sums fracture lengths for behind-helmet blunt trauma injury assessment. The program’s algorithm is capable of handling heavily comminuted fractures that are multiple elements thick. The program is written in Python and uses publicly available Python packages.