Applicability of the Madymo Pedestrian Model for forensic fall analysis

• Published in: Forensic science international Vol. 361; p. 112068
• Main Authors: de Vette, Vera, Hutchinson, Kim, Mugge, Winfred, Loeve, Arjo, van Zandwijk, Jan Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.08.2024; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Accidental Falls; Adult; Biomechanical Phenomena; Body height; Computer Simulation; Criminal investigations; Environmental conditions; Falling; Falls from height; Female; Forensic biomechanics; Forensic reconstruction; Forensic science; Forensic sciences; Forensic Sciences - methods; Human body; Human body model; Humans; Injuries; Jumping; Kinematics; Male; Models, Biological; Monte Carlo simulation; Murders & murder attempts; Numerical modelling; Pedestrians; Performance evaluation; Reconstruction; Rigid structures; Simcenter Madymo; Software; Software packages; Young Adult; Netherlands; Simcenter Madymo; Forensic reconstruction; Human body model; Forensic biomechanics; Numerical modelling; Falls from height
• ISSN: 0379-0738; 1872-6283; 1872-6283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112068

Forensic reconstruction and scenario evaluation are crucial in investigations of suspicious deaths related to falls from a height. In such cases, distinguishing between accidental falls, being pushed or jumping is an important but difficult task, since objective methods to do so are currently lacking. This paper explores the possibility of repurposing a passive rigid body model of a human from commercially available crash simulation software for forensic reconstruction and scenario evaluation of humans dropping from heights. To use this approach, a prerequisite is that the human body model can produce realistic movements compared to those of a real human, given similar environmental conditions. Therefore, this study assessed the validity of the commercially available Simcenter Madymo Pedestrian Model (MPM) for simulating human fall movements. Experimental kinematic and kinetic data was collected from nine participants, who dropped from a height in three different ways: passively tilting over, getting pushed, and jumping. Next, the performance of the MPM in reproducing the kinematics of the experimental falls was assessed by comparing the orientation of the body 0.3 s after platform release. The results show that the MPM currently does not consistently reproduce the experimentally recorded falling movements across multiple falling conditions and outcome measures. The MPM must therefore be adapted if to be used for forensic reconstruction and scenario evaluation, for example by implementing active movement. •Falling experiments showed large inter-subject variation in behaviour and kinematics.•Madymo Pedestrian Model’s ability to replicate experiment data of falling motions is limited.•Madymo Pedestrian Model must be adapted if to be used in forensic fall reconstruction.