The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of weight distribution in furniture on the severity of injuries sustained during collisions by using finite element analysis. The research focuses on scenarios in which bookshelves with varying internal weight configurations fall onto a mid-sized adult male. Specifically, three conditions were considered: the without-mass condition (total weight: 16.3 kg), the light-mass condition (31.8 kg), and the heavy-mass condition (83.3 kg). The risks of rib fractures and asphyxiation due to thoracic compression were evaluated based on stress distribution in the ribs and the contact force acted on the chest, respectively. The results revealed that all three conditions presented a risk of rib fractures, with the probability increasing in accordance with the total mass of the bookshelf. In the heavy-mass condition, a compressive force of 0.453 kN was applied to the thoracic region. This scenario suggested that respiratory failure could potentially occur approximately 90 minutes after the onset of compression.
Someya et al. (Wed,) studied this question.