Analysis of Impact Attenuation in 3D Printed Hip Protectors: A Support Vector Regression Approach

Abstract

This study examined the impact attenuation of 3D printed hip protectors using thermoplastic polyurethanes with different shore hardness values for preventing osteoporotic hip fractures. Rigorous testing at various energy levels were carried out to determine the protector’s abilities to attenuate impact. Subsequently, the prediction of impact attenuation capacity based on key design parameters was achieved from developed Support Vector Regression (SVR) model generated from the data of the impact attenuation capabilities. The key design parameters were shell thickness, infill density and shore hardness. The results demonstrated a significant correlation between the impact attenuation ability and the infill density of the hip protectors with R2 of 91% for the training set and 99% for the test set. The generated RMSE values are 0.0012 and 0.0208, respectively. Remarkably, the SVR model exhibited excellent agreement with the experimental test results, affirming the efficacy of SVR in the design of hip protectors to enhance protective performance and cut the cost of experimentation.